Addicted To You
by HikariFate
Summary: They met, fought, became friends, grew up and...fell in love? - Small NanoFate stories from everyday situations where we'll see how their relationship evolves.
1. Write

**A/N: **Hello everyone, I've finally decided to post this story, I didn't do it before cause I still haven't gotten permission from the original author, but I'm tire of waiting so I'm just going to do it and see what happens later. Anyway this story is originally from **Dark-Tsubasa**, the title is not the exact translation of the original but it's pretty close, also this story is kind of different from the other's I've done before, there's not so much anguish and that kind of stuff, there's some humor in it. Well please go head and read, hope you like it.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own this story or any characters used in it, they belong to their rightful owners.

**Beta-read chapter posted 9/14/12**

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She was standing in the middle of her room, where there was nothing left but furniture and a bunch of boxes that would be soon carried out of there. She had to admit that seeing her room that empty felt a little odd. As much as she had been getting everything ready for the past years, even though she knew this moment would come sooner or later and although these last six years she had been living between Mid-Childa and her house, the idea of moving away definitely scared her a little.

She looked at the calendar where a circle marked tomorrow. Tomorrow she would leave her house, tomorrow she would leave that world and move to a new home, to a room in a small residence in Mid-Childa, a very distant planet. Looking at it that way, didn't that give her a reason to be scared?

**#01 WRITE**

She sat down on her bed and sighed. She didn't know how her new life would be, but it wasn't the fact of going to live elsewhere what was troubling her, it was rather the sadness of leaving behind all the memories that this place brought her. Without going too far, for instance, in this room she had made her first pajama party with Fate and in that same bed they had ended sleeping together for the first time, which later became a natural habit for them. She collapsed on the bed and sighed again, she didn't want to continue packing. Although she knew she had little time before they came for the boxes, now that she had started to remember…

Memories!

She jumped up on her bed and went to the closet, grabbed a chair and climbed up to see over the shelf hanger. There it was, just as she had left it… well, maybe with a little more dust. How long had it been since she last opened that folder? She blew on it and started coughing while her eyes watered because of the dust; it definitely hadn't been a good idea to do that. She climbed down from the chair and stared at the folder in her hands.

"Let's see…"

She untied the ribbon that held the little folder closed and had to quickly catch some of its content that had been about to fall. She smiled at the CD's that read "For Nanoha" clearly by a child's handwriting; they were her most precious memories, the video-letters that Fate had sent her through the six months they were separated. She sat on the floor and put them aside, she'd take a look at them later, right now she had something else in mind…

"Long time, huh?"

She passed her hand over the top of that old notebook, the cover was very simple, perhaps somewhat childish with a pattern of little flowers and stars everywhere, but she remembered that she once liked it. She opened the cover and read the first page.

_Diary of Takamachi Nanoha. If you're reading this and you're not me… leave it!_

She almost starts laughing, did she really think that kind of warning would achieve to stop someone from reading her diary? She looked around searching for a pen, everything was out of place and a real mess, but she managed to find a pen, so she reached out to grab it and then added a small note under that phrase.

_Unless you want to feel the wrath of the TSAB's While Devil._

She laughed again and began turning pages looking for the latest written, ready to write. She remembered well why she had started to write everything in that diary and she still remembered the feeling of relief she felt when writing what she couldn't tell anyone, writing those things makes you feel a little better.

She found a blank page and took a deep breath releasing it all in one long sigh. She took the pen and began to slide it over the page.

_It's been a long time, right? I have so many things to tell, so many things to say… I don't know where to start._

_I'm no longer a little girl, I'm sixteen years old and I've grown… I am an instructor in the TSAB and lately living between two worlds is pretty tough, so tomorrow I'll be moving… Surely I will miss this place, but the good thing is that Fate-chan is also going to live in Mid-Childa… but she won't be with me, we are in different apartments but since they are relatively close we can still see each other. Also, in many occasions I have to go on missions with her and Hayate._

_In short, I can't complain. Everything has been fine with me, but… despite all my work achievements I think I'm stuck with my life._

_Surely you think I've changed but the people who know me say I haven't, they say I'm still the same little girl, always childish and stubborn… I guess it's true, I haven't changed much, yet I'm not the same._

_Years ago I wrote saying that Fate-chan was an important friend to me, "my best friend" I remember saying._

Nanoha looked at the written page. Her handwriting was irregular, she had never been good at calligraphy but at least now it didn't look so childish. She brought the pen to her mouth and bit at it as she reread her last lines while thinking of how to continue, she remembered that whenever she had something that worried her, she noticed how when writing it she felt the pressure on her chest diminished, she didn't know if that was because at that time she was little, but hoped it still worked.

_That hasn't changed but…_

"Nanoha?"

The girl jumped in surprise when hearing that voice which she could recognize anywhere. Without thinking it twice she quickly tore the sheet of paper, crumpling it and hiding it in her pocket as she stood to greet, with a nervous smile, the person who was at her door.

"Fate-chan…" she laughed nervously. "You're here? I didn't expect you so soon."

"I called you an hour ago…" the blonde took a step forward to enter the room, but Nanoha took one back to get away from her. "What is it, what were you doing? You look nervous…"

"Me? No… Nyahahaha."

Fate raised an eyebrow seeing how Nanoha looked furtively to the ground and tried to hide something behind her with her foot. She went over to her and bent down to pick up the notebook but the girl was faster and took it from her hand before she could do anything about it.

"Were you writing something?"

"No," she sighed when seeing her friend was frowning, she hated not being able to lie. "Yes… but it's nothing."

She swallowed hard when seeing that smile, she hated it. Over the years her friend had learned to smile and Nanoha knew each and every one of those smiles. And she knew she couldn't expect anything good when _that_smile appeared on the lips of Fate Testarossa Harlaown.

And indeed, she was right.

The blonde came closer and when Nanoha tried to step away she tripped over one of the CD's and ended up falling on the bed, ending at the complete mercy of her friend. Fate giggled, which made her swallow again; taking advantage of the situation, Fate placed herself on top of her, trapping her and holding her wrists with her hands. The notebook had fallen a little apart and she looked at it for a moment before looking back at Nanoha.

"Do you not want to let me see what you wrote?" The blonde muttered with a playful voice, causing a shiver to run down the back of the brunette. But despite everything, Nanoha shook her head. "Very well… You asked for it."

The attack was relentless. At the exact moment when her hands were placed on the sides of the girl and her fingers began to act, Nanoha started laughing wildly. A smile formed on Fate's lips as she tickled her. She loved to make her laugh like that, she loved her laugh.

"Sto… Stop Fate… Fate-chan!" she said laughing. "I can't … let you read it… it's my… my diary!"

The blonde's tickling stopped and then looked at her with genuine surprise, causing Nanoha to blush realizing her secret was discovered.

"Your diary?" Nanoha nodded. "I didn't know you had a diary."

"I left it years ago…" she muttered embarrassed.

Fate laughed at her friend's grin on her face, one between anger and embarrassment. At her laughter, Nanoha stuck out her tongue and Fate laughed even harder, she patted the brunette on the head which only caused her friend to get even angrier, before the blonde stood up.

"Come on," she held out her hand. "I'll help you finish packing."

Nanoha sighed and grabbed the hand held out to her, she hated that she found it impossible to be angry with Fate, it wasn't fair. She saw the blonde pick up the scattered CD's and put them inside the folder before giving it back to her with a smile. She hated feeling helpless against that smile, it was not fair.

She went to the bed to get her diary and looked at it for a moment before sighing and putting it back in the folder; without thinking she had tore the page out… anyway, she could always write again. Yes, that's exactly what she would do, she would start writing in her diary again and then…

"Someday I'll let you read it."

She looked at her best friend with determination and nodded, Fate looked at her with surprise but then she also nodded with a smile.

"I hope you write a lot about me."

Nanoha smiled and closed the folder. She didn't like having secrets with her friend and hoped that someday she wouldn't have the need to write in that diary again.

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**A/N:** Okay so what do you guys think? liking it or not? Well I hope you do. I just want to say some things that you may want to know about this story. First, the story doesn't follow a specific plot, and what i mean by that is that each chapter kind of has its own story but some of them are connected, and they will be telling a general story of Fate and Nanoha. Second, and this is not really that important but anyway, the title of the chapters belong to a list of 30 "addictions" that appeared in some kind of magazine, or at least that's what the original author wrote, I think that also explains the title of the story. And last, the story is not done yet, there's only 17 chapters right now, and the author hasn't updated in a while, so if I'm done translating and the story still isn't done then, we'll just have to wait, which is sad, but there's nothing i can do about that. Well i think i've wrote enough already so please review and thanks for reading. Oh wait one more thing, I'm still going to be working on the other story I have, but I'll try to update regularly. Ok well see ya later! :)


	2. Need

The helicopter flew over Mid-Childa while Fate was looking out the window with a barely concealed smile on her lips. She had only been three days out of the city, far from home and friends, and although they weren't too many days, she would rather stay there with her loved ones.

But we can't always do what we want, and if her superiors sent her on a mission, she had to obey.

Upon landing the doors opened and the occupants started to come out. Fate looked around and placed her backpack over her shoulder, the captain was saying something but she could barely hear it due to the noise made by the propellers of the device. She looked at the sky and took a deep breath as her eyes closed and she began to concentrate on something. It didn't take her long to perceive Nanoha and soon a telepathic channel was opened between them.

_I'm home._

**#02 NEED**

The blonde frowned when receiving no answer, but at that moment her companions began to applaud the captain's speech so she joined them without giving it more importance.

"Fate-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

The applause stopped as suddenly as it began. The blonde looked in amazement at the sky, where a beam of pink light headed towards her at full speed.

She could hear that voice even if it was a whisper instead of a scream, she could recognize that pink light anywhere, she could find even among thousands of people the figure that at that moment was flying to her… but never, could she guess what that woman was thinking.

"Nanoha?"

She got tackled by the appointed who threw her down before the eyes of her peers. Nanoha wrapped her arms around the blonde, who had just used the runway while she smiled completely happy.

"I've missed you!"

"Me… Me too, Nanoha," Fate stammered while catching her breath. "But you could have waited…"

"No!" She frowned a few seconds before smiling. "I wanted to see Fate-chan."

Both stared at each other with a smile as if nothing mattered, even though they were still on the ground, one on top of the other, and in the midst of a lot of people. A cough behind them brought them back to reality and they both saw the captain looking at them with a raised eyebrow. Fate stood up completely flushed while her companions could barely hold their laughter.

"Oops." Nanoha stood up and fixed her uniform. "I think I better see you later, Fate-chan. Can you…?"

"Takamachi Nanoha!"

The said person swallowed hard as everyone looked up to see a man arriving with the same uniform as Nanoha. Fate looked at her companion in surprise.

"Don't tell me you were in the middle of training?"

"Er… No?"

"Takamachi, return immediately to the training grounds!"

Fate gave a small chuckle as she patted the shoulder of the brunette. She shook her head and smiled as she watched her leave, it seemed like she would be the one to not make it that day.

-.-.-.-.-

Nanoha got in the car and closed the door, she said hi to Fate and apologized for making her wait, Fate just smiled and put the car in motion to leave the apartment complex. They lived in different areas of Mid-Childa but they weren't too far apart, flying, it would at most take a couple minutes, but Fate liked the car and Nanoha liked seeing her drive.

Besides after the latest incident, they didn't want to have more problems for using the airspace without permission.

It was already a little late, but neither of them had any free time earlier, too many responsibilities and not too much time, however this didn't prevent them from making plans together.

Fate looked in the mirror and put the indicator to change lane, next to her Nanoha complained that, in her opinion, her superior had been giving her too much extra work.

"And just because I ran away in the middle of class."

"You flew," corrected the blonde and giggled when listening to Nanoha's whine. "Because of your little run away we hadn't been able to spend time together for two days."

"Hey, you've been busy too since you arrived," she protested.

It didn't take them too long to reach their destination so, after parking, they entered that small restaurant where they were already known and sat on the same table as always. They continued talking and after ordering Fate looked at her watch with a small frown.

"Sorry," Nanoha apologized. "It's pretty late and you have training first thing tomorrow."

"Don't worry," the blonde shook her head and smiled. "It's been three days without being able to see you and two not being able to make plans due to work. Now that we've managed to get some time to spend together, I don't mind having to get up early tomorrow."

"I don't believe you." Fate raised her eyebrows at that accusation. "Then, why did you have that look on your face when looking at the time?"

She blinked upon the accusing look from her friend. She gave a small chuckle and leaned her arms on the table.

"Because I was thinking we didn't have much time to spend together." Nanoha opened her mouth and felt her face slightly flush. "I need one of our talks that last for hours and hours, I miss them."

Nanoha looked at the tablecloth. She missed those talks? They already spent hours talking telepathically. If she had to be honest she missed even more the calm smile of Fate and those burgundy eyes she liked so much. She also thought the talk was pleasing, especially the soft voice of her friend… But she could always hear her voice whenever they talked telepathically… what she liked was to see _her_ talk.

"Yes, I also needed to see you," Nanoha smiled just as the waiter arrived with their orders.

-.-.-.-.-

The dinner had felt short for them, but without noticing they had stayed there until the place was about to close and they had no other choice but to return to the car. Along the way Nanoha turned to look out the window, Fate glanced at her and pressed a button, removing the roof of the car. The brunette look at her with surprise, holding her hair so it wouldn't bother her face. Fate smiled as she watched the road.

"You don't mind the wind, do you?" Asked the blonde and she shook her head. "I thought so, with how much you like flying, it couldn't possibly bother you."

Nanoha smiled, enjoying the wind on her face while Fate took an exit which lead to the brunette's block and stopped in front of the entrance.

"When do you think you'll be free again?" Nanoha asked after getting out of the car.

Fate sighed and leaned against the window, leaving her arms hanging on the side of the car in a position of defeat.

"I honestly don't know, but hopefully soon."

"I see… well then…" Nanoha stepped back and moved away from her friend, "see you, Fate-chan. Good night," and closed the passenger door.

The blonde waved goodbye and saw her friend enter the building before putting the car in motion. She had to admit that spending more than a day without seeing Nanoha was the most boring thing ever, no matter how often they talked telepathically and although the work didn't leave much time to think, there were times when she just needed to see her. She frowned and turned the wheel sharply.

-.-.-.-.-

Nanoha undid her ponytail letting her hair fall freely down her back, she grabbed the shirt she wore to sleep and was just putting it on when she heard a knock on the door. She frowned and buttoned a few buttons on her way to open the door.

"Yes..?" She blinked when she saw who it was. "Fate-chan?"

"Can I stay the night?"

The red eyes were staring at her rather ashamed for having appeared without warning and even more noticing the surprise on her friend's face. She was starting to think it hadn't been a good idea before Nanoha smiled, nodded with her characteristic "Uhn!" and took her hand to guide her to her room.

"Want a snack? I have a few things…" Nanoha commented as she opened a cabinet. "Would you like chips or cookies?"

"Cookies are fine."

Fate looked around with curiosity. She had been in that room countless times, but she had never seen such a mess. She looked at the clothes scattered on the floor and blushed slightly when seeing a pink bra hanging from the back of a chair.

"Here…Ah!" Nanoha left the cookies on the bed without much care and quickly picked up the bar, then grabbed all the clothes that were over the floor. "Sorry, earlier I left so fast to go see you that I didn't pick things up…"

"Sure…" muttered the blonde not very convinced, because in the ground there was also the clothes she had just taken off. "It's okay."

Nanoha looked at her annoyed to see how she was barely holding back the urge to laugh. She snorted and left the clothes in a basket near the corner. Fate sat on the bed and opened the package of cookies to grab one.

"How come you decided to stay?" Asked the brunette as she handed her a shirt that Fate herself had left there some time before for when she stays there. "You surprised me, you have to get up early tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I can go to work from here," she smiled, starting to unbutton her shirt. "Luckily, I have the training uniform in the locker room."

The blue-eyed girl sat on the bed, leaned her back against the wall and grabbed her favorite cushion to put it over her crossed legs. She coughed, a little uncomfortable when seeing how Fate stood up and took off her pants to put them on the chair, she grabbed a cookie and decided to look the other way while her friend was changing. Fate pulled her long blonde hair out of the shirt and sat down beside Nanoha, grabbing a cookie in the process.

"Well, the truth is that it's been some time since you last stayed to sleep," Nanoha admitted. "We are very busy lately."

Her friend nodded, biting the cookie. Her new life in Mid-Childa hadn't been easy, although they had stated to have a place after so much effort, they still had trouble being recognized.

Their reputation preceded them, but despite having a magical power superior to that of any others, it wasn't easy for them to be respected. Many times, even after the good results obtained, they were simply ignored by their superiors who didn't want to admit that teenage girls were better than them. That attitude made Nanoha angry, Fate also disliked it, but she would just stay quiet and continue fighting to prove what they were capable of doing. To make it clear that the title of Ace hadn't been for nothing.

The blonde yawned, suddenly feeling the fatigue accumulated in the last few days. Nanoha noticed it and pushed away the cushion to stand up and go turn off the light, the cookies were forgotten on the side table and soon the two were lying on the bed.

"I really needed this," Fate admitted after a while, in a drowsy murmur.

"Hmm? What?" Nanoha asked, feeling the sleep taking over her. "To eat cookies in you pj's with your best friend?"

Fate giggled and squirmed on the bed, moving closer to the brunette who put an arm around her. Silence gripped the room for a few seconds before Fate's soft voice was heard again in the darkness.

"No… to sleep hugging you."

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**A/N: **Hello everyone, wasn't that ending cute? I really think it was. Can you guys see the difference between my other stories, it's not so depressing, I think that's why it's kind of harder for me to translate it or maybe it's just because the author is different, idk but it is a little harder I hope I'm doing a good job, I really try to make everything sound right and for it to make sense but I also try to make it sound and feel like the original, get what I mean? Well I hope you're liking it, please review, tell me what you think so far, k?. See u next chapter ;)


	3. Money

They walked through the city happily chatting while some of the people stopped to look at them in amazement. They had only been two years in Mid-Childa but so many things had passed that it had become their home and after much effort they had become so famous that almost everyone had heard about the three Aces of the TSAB. Watching the three of them walking down the street with normal clothes and chatting as if they weren't the most powerful mages in all Mid-Childa, must be quite peculiar.

Yuuno was behind them with a pile of bags as he kept on complaining while Hayate made fun of him, provoking the laughter of the other two. They had spent the whole afternoon shopping and the poor boy had been dragged with them to end up carrying all the bags.

Suddenly Nanoha stopped as they were passing near a large shop window. Fate stopped only a few a seconds after her but the others took a while to realize they had stopped.

"Do you like it?" asked a soft voice at her side.

**#03 MONEY**

Nanoha turned to look at the blonde, who was also looking at the shop window with a smile that made it clear she knew what she had stopped to watch. The brunette just looked back at the small lamp, it was simple but it had a design which matched one of her pillows and that had caught her attention. Before she could say anything, Fate was already entering the store, Nanoha gasped and went after her.

"Where are you going?" she asked when she managed to reach her, and the blonde looked at her with a raised eyebrow, as if the answer was obvious. "Fate-chan, it's not necessary to buy it, it's not even in the list."

"The truth is that we do need a lamp near the bed," she explained without stopping. "I like to read at night so with a small light I won't bother you too much, besides… it matches your pillow."

Nanoha blushed at the friendly smile of the girl and looked down just as Fate headed to speak with one of the store clerks. Their two friends arrived behind them watching the shop with curiosity. Yuuno asked what was going on and the brunette explained it while Hayate got lost in one of the many shelves. At the store there was a little of everything: lamps, vases, ornaments… it looked like a bazaar, but it was so small that everything was a bit piled up, however there were many really interesting things. Hayate excitedly called Yuuno over to watch something, Nanoha smiled as she shook her head, her friend went crazy in places like this, where she could find anything.

"Hey, Fate-chan…" she turned but the girl was no longer behind her.

She blinked in surprise and went to the counter where the clerk was packing the lamp; the man looked at her with disinterest and pointed to one side, showing his understanding that the blonde had gone that way. She began to walk down the aisle looking among the shelves until she found her, despite having her back turned, her blonde hair was unmistakable and it was one of the things she liked the most about her.

She quietly moved towards her and clung to her back, resting her head on her shoulder to see what she was eagerly looking at. Fate looked at her with surprise but then smiled, and even more when Nanoha's hand disappeared into her hair, gently starting to play with her locks, a habit that had become almost a reflex every time the blonde hair was at her reach.

"Do you like it?" the brunette asked this time.

"I was just thinking, it's interesting, look."

She showed her the cup in her hands, it was simple, with a white background and several yellow triangles of different sizes everywhere, even though the same cup was in several different colors, that one in specific inevitably reminded her of Bardiche. Nanoha took the cup in her hands to look at it better and couldn't help smiling, it really was interesting, it was the perfect cup for Fate.

"I'll keep it," said Nanoha and the blonde looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Shouldn't _I_be the one to keep it?"

"No."

Nanoha smiled at the cup, she would keep it so every time she drinks from it she would think of Fate. She ran her finger along the edge of the cup, it couldn't be considered an indirect kiss but that was better than nothing. She looked up to find her friend looking at her with confusion and chuckled as she looked through the row of cups, she found one with a circular design and searched for a red one, she grabbed it and handed it to Fate, who stared at it not very convinced.

"Raising Heart?" she asked mockingly.

"Yep," Nanoha smiled and Fate grabbed the cup shaking her head and not being able to hide a smile.

They left the store with a small package containing the lamp and the two cups which, as expected, the poor Yuuno had to carry, who now, in between the box and the bags hanging from his wrists, looked like a bunch of packages with legs.

Fate took a pen and a piece of paper out of her pocket, opened the cap for the pen with her mouth and crossed out the word "cups" then added "lamp" at the end of the list and crossed it out as well. Nanoha looked at the list over her shoulder, everything was crossed out except for one word and that meant that for the time being they had all the essentials and had only one thing left to buy.

"The only thing left is the bed, right?" asked the brunette with a smile.

Fate nodded to the question as she checked the list again. The rest of the furniture had been order already and was on its way, along with the rest of their things, they would arrive that same evening to their new apartment where the two would be moving in. She still couldn't believe it, but was more than happy to live together with Nanoha, and it was all thanks to Hayate.

"Are you sure we can really have that apartment?" she asked the woman who at that moment was still bothering Yuuno. "I still see it too big for the two of us."

The chestnut girl left the boy alone and turned to look at Fate, she crossed her arms and stared with a frown and then she turned to Nanoha, who had an exhausted look. They didn't know how many times they had had the same conversation but Fate didn't want to abuse of Hayate's kindness and still couldn't believe that her friend had gotten such a luxury place just for them.

"Stop making such a big deal of it, Fate-chan," Nanoha said with a tired smile. "Hayate-chan said it's fine, so just forget about it."

"But, it's just that…" the blonde doubted, "starting tomorrow she'll be our boss, it feels like we have some kind of preference."

"And you do!" Hayate said, completely exasperated. "Fate… Nanoha and you are my friends, the circumstances have wanted me to be your superior, but you're still my friends!" She stood in front of her and put a finger right in front of Fate's nose. "And I want my friends to be comfortable and, as I can allow myself because I'm your boss, I've prepared for you the best room of the Section Six. And you'll enjoy it without question, understand?"

Fate closed her eyes when she tapped her nose, although it seemed a bit too good she wasn't allowed to complain. She rubbed her nose and looked at Nanoha, who just smiled and clung to her arm.

"Then let's go get the bed," concluded the brunette, looking around searching for a store where they could buy it.

"The bed?" asked Yuuno. "You're just buying one?"

The two girls looked at him as if he had just said something stupid, then they looked at each other and smiled. Of course they would only buy one bed, sleeping together was something they used to do before and now that they could share a room they couldn't even think of sleeping in separate beds.

"Isn't it obvious?" Hayate asked, hitting the boy in the head. "What king of questions is that, really?"

"It's been a long time since Fate-chan and I slept together," Nanoha exclaimed with joy. "I can't wait! Let's go buy it, hurry!"

Fate smiled as she was dragged by her friend, Yuuno mentioned something about Nanoha moving too much while sleeping when she was little and the blonde agreed, saying that she hasn't changed over the years, which caused the girl to end up protesting as they entered the store.

It was a big store and everything was covered with mattresses, box springs and pillows. Nanoha's anger was gone as fast as it had come and she began to try them all, while Fate went after her trying to stop her, but all she achieved was to get them both on the mattresses, testing each one of them while Hayate and Yuuno followed them.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha yelled. "Look at this one, it's huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!"

The blonde got there just in time to see her friend drop on the biggest bed she had seen so far, in fact it was so big that Nanoha was fully stretched and didn't occupy one fourth of the surface. Fate laughed and the girl sat up to look at her questioningly.

"You could get lost in that bed, Nanoha."

"Yeah," she admitted after looking around. "But it's great, you'll see."

She tapped a spot next to her, Fate understood and lay down. For a moment they stayed staring at the ceiling, saying nothing, just relaxing, the bed was big but the two were right next to each other, they knew they would probably sleep hugging each other as they used to do before and therefore they wouldn't take advantage of such a huge bed, but they had to admit it was the most comfortable one they had seen so far.

Nanoha turned her head and so did Fate. They looked at each other and smiled. No words were needed, this would be their bed.

-.-.-.-.-

Fate looked with disapproval at the receipt. Nanoha laughed at her side while talking to Hayate, and Yuuno was still behind them carrying all the purchases. The blonde looked back at the receipt and made a face that didn't go unnoticed by her new roommate.

"Hey, as much as you look at the price it won't drop," Nanoha laughed, earning a disapproving look. "It got a little out of the budget but admit it, you also liked it."

The brunette clung to her arm once again and she let out a sigh. Yes, she had to admit that she loved the bed but she was fine with any bed as long as she was with Nanoha.

"With how much the bed had cost and we still haven't even looked at the pillows…" Fate complained, although she really didn't care.

"Well, I already have _my_ pillow."

"Your pillow?" asked Hayate.

"Yes, it even matches the lamp."

Yuuno stuck his head above the bags to look at the girls, which caused him to almost fall and with him, all the purchases. After Hayate helped him get his balance and scolded him for being so clumsy, she looked back at Nanoha.

"You mean the pillow you had in your house?" she nodded. "Well, I didn't know you still had it."

"She can't sleep without it," Fate laughed while the brunette tried to cover her mouth so she wouldn't say anything else, but failed. "The first night she spent in Mid-Childa she called me because it hadn't arrived yet and she couldn't sleep."

"Mou, Fate-chan!"

The blonde laughed and Nanoha gave her an annoyed look, moving away as she muttered something and crossed her arms. Hayate laughed looking at Fate approaching Nanoha with a bad hidden smile, asking her not to get mad but without much conviction. Finally Nanoha snorted and looked at her offended.

"Just so you know, I no longer need that pillow," she said.

"Oh, really?" Hayate asked, and although she tried her best, her voice was clearly mocking.

"Yes… because now I can use Fate-chan as my pillow!"

She clung to her neck so abruptly that almost made her fall and when she managed to catch her balance, the four began to laugh, despite the blonde almost choking from the sudden "accidental attack" of her friend. She looked at the girl who was still hanging from her, happily laughing and she couldn't help smiling. As much as Nanoha said that, when they slept together most of the time it was her who ended being Fate's pillow…

Nanoha looked at her still smiling and let go of her neck, but stayed hugging her arm. Fate turned her attention to the receipt in her hand, smiling since the brunette seemed to be as eager and happy to be living together, as her.

She crumpled the receipt and put it carelessly in the back pocket of her pants. Perhaps they had gotten a little out of the budget, but she had to admit it had been a very productive afternoon shopping.

* * *

**A/N: **Hello everyone, this chapter 3 a day of shopping, interesting right? Well I just want to give you a small little fact that the original author wrote about, the pillow that is mentioned in this chapter actually appears in A's and Strikes, along with the small lamp, I honestly don't know if it's true cuase i don't really pay attention to those things but it's an interesting thing to know. Well thanks for reading, please review and if you check to see if the fact is true then let me know, ok? see ya later :)


	4. Ego

Since they entered the Section Six they've had more free time and freedom to move around, having as your superior someone who has been your friends for years, had its benefits. Despite that, their work was still hard and now, besides working for the Section Six, sometimes they were also required for some type of special work from their old positions, so they had to admit that although they had more freedom they got even more exhausted than before.

Hayate had promised she would try to talk to them, so they would stop "asking favors," as they called it, and they could fully focus on their new jobs, however the Section Six was still a pretty new unit under the command of a really young lieutenant colonel, so they wouldn't take it seriously from one day to another.

Fate stretched lazily. She had just arrived from fulfilling an extra request as the Enforcer of the TSAB and now she was faced with a ton of paperwork from the Section Six… Lately they called her every other day and since she had agreed the first time, now she felt she couldn't refuse. The same was with Nanoha who was now teaching a group of new students at the request of her former instructor.

Fate sometimes thought that being so good at their job was not such a good thing.

**#04 EGO**

"I'm home…" her voice sounded tired. "Please, Fate-chan, kill me."

The blonde laughed at the request as she watched her friend reluctantly walking from the door to the stairs. She stopped reading the report she had in hand and left it aside on the couch to then stand up and follow her friend. She picked up the white and blue jacket that Nanoha had thrown on a step and continued on her way up as she listened to a "ploff" which told her that the girl had just dropped on the mattress. Fate smiled when seeing that, indeed, Nanoha's body was lying face down on one side of the big bed.

"Tiring day?" she asked getting a groan in response. "You put too much effort on your work."

"The new recruits learn from me, I have to do my best if I want to bring out their full potential," she explained while moving like a caterpillar to take off her skirt. "And they know it, that's why they call for me."

"You are the Aces of Aces, assume what your efficiency has created," Fate laughed as Nanoha turned around and continued fighting with her skirt, which apparently didn't want to be removed. "Here, let me help."

Nanoha slightly sat up and blushed when noticing the cleavage showing between Fate's opened shirt, who was leaning on the edge of the bed to grab the skirt and pull it. She blushed even more when seeing how the girl slid the fabric down her legs to remove it. She had to look away.

"And you?" she asked when the blonde went to leave the clothes on a basket. "What were you doing down there?"

"I was reading a report," she went to the bed and dropped next to Nanoha. "I should have had it done by this afternoon, but was called for a meeting… tell me, what do I even have to do in a meeting?"

"You are one of the best enforces, assume what your efficiency has created."

They stayed silent for a moment until they couldn't hold their laugher any longer. Nanoha turned her head to look at the woman beside her, who did the same, then exchange a smile.

"Are you hungry?" she asked. "I'll prepare something."

"You're probably tired also, I'll help."

But despite that, neither moved a bit, so after a few seconds of silence they started laughing again. Fate finally got up first and tapped the brunette's leg urging her to do the same.

They got to the kitchen and opened the fridge, carefully looking inside waiting for something edible to magically appear. Just when they had decided to put aside the intent of cooking and to just order something, the doorbell rang.

Nanoha looked at Fate and the latter looked back at her. Noticing the silent request in her eyes and when she realized that the brunette was almost half naked, she decided to be the one to open the door.

And as soon as she opened it a figure sneaked into their house.

"Hello…" Hayate greeted, giving the blonde a couple of boxes and going directly to the couch. "I came to let myself die here."

Fate looked at the boxes of pizza with a raised eyebrow, closed the door and followed the newcomer, Nanoha appeared at her side and both looked with surprised as Hayate dropped on the couch.

"A hard day for you too, Hayate-chan?" Nanoha asked with a giggle.

"Seriously, sometimes I hate my job," she turned around on the couch to look at her friends and blinked a few times before mischievously smiling. "Am I interrupting something?"

Fate looked at Hayate not understanding so she turned to see Nanoha who, after looking at her, turned her head away slightly flushed. The blonde finally noticed that her friend only had a shirt on and she herself had hers half unbuttoned… and then she blushed violently.

"Mou Hayate-chan," Nanoha protested. "Stop joking about it. We were going to order something for dinner."

"Then my interruption was in good timing," she smiled sitting on the couch. "I came from talking with the people who exploit you, I think I've finally managed to make them leave you alone."

Both girls let out a gasp of thanks and sighed in relief, there would be no more second jobs.

"You're the best, Hayate," Fate commended.

"Well, I already knew that," she joked.

The three began to laugh and headed to the kitchen to get what they needed for dinner. Fate placed the glasses on the little table in front of the couch, Hayate left the soda and napkins aside and Nanoha opened the lid of one box, letting out a strange humming, feeling the smell of the pizza and ready to cut it.

"Nanoha, you're practically drooling," the blonde said, passing a napkin over her mouth to complete the joke. "We want it with no drool, thank you."

They started eating in between laughs and jokes, the fatigue of the day and the stress of work had begun to disappear at the pleasant atmosphere that had always existed between them. Fate smiled broadly after taking a big bite of a new slice of pizza, she was glad to know that despite the fact that Hayate had become their superior, she was still their same friend, just as she promised.

"You have some sauce, Fate-chan," the blonde came out of her thoughts to notice Nanoha stretching her hand and removing the food off her face with her finger before eating it herself. "Hmm… tasty."

Hayate laughed aloud when she noticed the look of embarrassment and the blush spread across Fate's face. Nanoha looked at her rather mischievously, clearly it had been in revenge for the joke earlier.

"By the way, Nanoha…" Hayate paused and took a sip of her soda. "Today on my way to the office I saw the training of two recruits and I think they had some potential… Soon there's going to be a placement test, I've asked and there is no restriction for you to examine them yourself, that way you can see their skills and help me decide whether or not to include them in the Section Six. Rein has told me she'll be happy to help you."

"Hm! No problem" Nodded the instructor. "Now that the TSAB will let us focus on our own work, I can't wait to see my new team!"

"I also wanted to talk to you about that…" Fate muttered, leaving her piece of pizza on the side. "When you see it appropriate, let me know and I'll start the paperwork to transfer Erio and Caro."

"I'm waiting for the approval of Carim and Chrono, when I have it, I'll let you know." Fate nodded and turned her attention back to the food. "And you Nanoha, I'll give you the report so you prepare the exam." Now it was Nanoha who nodded, even with her mouth full. Hayate let out a long sigh and leaned back on the couch. "Well, shortly the Section Six will be complete and we'll finally start with our work… actually, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but still it has been exhausting."

"You are one of the best, assume what your efficiency had created."

Nanoha and Fate said at the same time, and they both started laughing at the surprise look from their friend.

-.-.-.-.-

Hayate opened her eyes and immediately closed them again at the sudden light that filled the room. She ran a hand over her face to clear it and rubbed her sleepy eyes to remove the sleep before looking around. She noticed she was on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, next to a table full of boxes with leftovers of pizza and empty soda cans. She couldn't remember when she had fallen asleep but she was sure it had been before the end of the movie, since she couldn't remember it.

She sat up and found that indeed, her friends were nowhere to be seen, she put the blanket aside and quietly walked upstairs.

As expected they were both lying in the bed next to each other and leaving too much empty space on that huge mattress, which Hayate thought was being wasted too much. She went to the bed to see the peaceful expression of both women. Nanoha slept with one arm around Fate's waist, while the other cuddled in her chest with her head placed in the space between her friend's neck. The chestnut girl shook her head and sighed before jumping on the bed.

"W-what!"

"OUCH!"

Fate had sat up so fast at the sudden shock in her bed that in the process, she had hit her head with Nanoha's chin, who was now complaining half asleep, not really understanding what had happened. Hayate giggled and rolled over until she was in the middle of her two friends, embracing them both with her arms.

"You abandoned me on the couch," she whined. "You came here to sleep so comfortably close together while I was left alone down there…"

"Hayate…" Fate ran a hand over her head and dropped on the bed again. "You really scared me with that."

"Yeah…" Nanoha groaned, still rubbing her chin. "You fell asleep and when the movie ended we felt bad to wake you up."

"That's why we left you there," Fate finished. "Don't be so dramatic."

"Lie. The truth is that you just wanted to spend the night with the two of you alone, in this huge bed."

The two let out a snort, it was too early to start bearing the jokes of their friend so neither of them said anything. They stayed in silence for a while, trying to wake up but too sleepy to get up. Fate rubbed her eyes and let out a yawn before turning to one side.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Hayate muttered.

"Too early," protested Nanoha. "I want to sleep a little longer."

"_Wake up, my master."_

The three girls let out a tired sigh upon hearing Raising Heart, which could only mean one thing: the hours of rest were over and they had to start preparing for another long day of work.

"_Wake up, my master."_

Repeated the device and Nanoha jumped up releasing a grunt in the process. It hadn't been a very nice way to wake up, she didn't mind getting up early as long as she woke up seeing the peaceful face of Fate at her side, not with a sudden hit to her chin… her two companions began snickering but ended up laughing. Nanoha crossed her arms and looked at them reproachfully.

"You two can now start getting up as well, you also have to work."

"If we take the day off, do you think they'll notice?" asked Fate.

"Unfortunately the Section Six can't function without its three most important mages," Hayate sighed, sitting up on the bed.

Fate also sat up and the three looked at each other with annoyance.

Sometimes being so good really sucked.

* * *

**A/N: **So this was the fourth chapter, not much NanoFate happening here, but there'll be more later on. So this chapter happens before the begining of Strikes, how much longer do you think is gonna take for them to confess their feelings? well you'll find out if you continue reading, and reviewing, ok? see next time ;)


	5. Outfit

A voice automatically let itself be heard through the silence of the room, announcing that it was getting late. Nanoha reluctantly opened her eyes and answered Raising Heart, thanking it for letting her know. Usually she would wake up on her own but there were days in which she was too comfortable lying in bed, feeling the warmth of the embrace that Fate held around her waist while she slept. She stared at her for a moment and closed her eyes with a smile.

"_Wake up, my master."_

Nanoha groaned for a few seconds but eventually she separated from her friend being careful not to wake her and then she stood up, ready to begin another long day of work. She stretched and then reached into her drawer for a set of underwear as she thought of all the things she had to do that day. Since all she had do to was office work, she grabbed her standard brown uniform from the hanger and headed to take a shower humming a song.

"Oops, the towel…"

**#05 OUTFIT**

She quickly typed on the screen in front of her. Actually, the office paperwork was what she hated the most about her work, but sometimes she got to a point where she couldn't postpone it any longer and she had to devote herself to sort out reports and update files with the data of her students.

Suddenly another screen appeared at her side, letting her know that someone wanted to see her and she gave her consent without paying much attention to who it was. So when Fate entered her office with an embarrassed look on her face, Nanoha raised her eyebrows in surprise and immediately stopped typing.

"Didn't you have to go visit Chrono today?" she asked closing the screens.

"Yes, but…" Fate looked around and seemed relieve to see that Nanoha was the only one there, which was completely normal considering it was still too early. "Well the thing is, that I have a small problem and…"

The brunette stood up and looked at her curiously as she went around the desk to stand in front of her. Fate's cheeks looked flushed, and for some reason, she wouldn't take her hand off her skirt while the other was holding the opposite arm, covering her chest in a discreet way. Nanoha blushed slightly and had to look elsewhere while forcing herself to stop thinking that she looked too cute.

"What problem?" she murmured, sitting on the edge of the desk and looking back at her. "Do you need tampon?"

"What?!" Fate blushed even more. "N-no!"

Nanoha had to stop herself from laughing, which of course she couldn't hide at all and caused Fate to frown. But still, with the blush and face clearly embarrassed, she didn't look too scary.

"What then?"

"You got the wrong uniform?" she simply said.

Nanoha blinked a few times with surprise as Fate just looked at her seriously. So the fact that the uniform fit her a little bigger wasn't because she lost weight? Honestly, it was disappointing. Although the good thing was her breast hadn't gotten smaller either, as she had thought that morning.

"Oh," she couldn't say anything else. She looked at Fate and smiled mischievously when seeing how she was still covering. "What makes you say that? Mine's perfect."

The blonde frowned and looked up and down at her with anger. The jacket was a little loose and the skirt was lower than normal, but instead of saying that, she just moved her hand away uncovering her chest and revealing that the top of the uniform was tighter than usual. In fact it was too tight for Nanoha's mental health.

"Isn't it obvious why I say it?" she asked ironically.

"No…" she muttered, swallowing and quickly recovering from that sight. "Come on, sit down."

She crossed her arms and smiled, waiting for the other girl to agree to her request. She knew she was exhausting Fate's patience, but she couldn't help it, if she missed that opportunity she would never forgive herself. The blonde looked at her weirdly but in the end she obeyed and sat in the chair facing the desk. Nanoha seeing her there, sitting in front of her, couldn't help but look surprised and let out a whistle of admiration which managed to make Fate blush even more.

"What?" asked the blonde, suddenly feeling nervous. "What is it?"

"Well, yeah…" she whispered, her throat suddenly feeling dry and not being able to take her eyes off her. "Maybe the uniform is a bit small."

Fate saw how Nanoha looked at her with an intensity which puzzled her for a moment, her blue eyes remained fixed on her, on a _part_ of her. Somewhat embarrassed by that look from the brunette, she decided to look elsewhere and stand up, causing the shorter and smaller skirt to pull up and reveal a great part of her thigh. She yelped and covered herself while protesting, but Nanoha already had engraved on her memory that image of Fate. And to make sure she wouldn't forget it, Raising Heart had secretly taken a picture just before she covered.

Between Fate's protests and Nanoha's laughter they agreed to change uniforms, or else the blonde wouldn't be able to go anywhere comfortably… or at least not without causing all eyes to fall on her, as she said had happened on her way there. Nanoha frowned and closed the door and the blinds before they quickly started to undress.

"But I don't get it," said the brunette, handing over her skirt and grabbing the one held to her. "Why didn't you put on another uniform? The training one, for example."

Fate glanced at her as she pulled her skirt and buttoned it, she smiled seeing it fit perfectly.

"I realized too late that the uniform was smaller…" she explained. "Besides, it would be weird to walk around here with the shirt and pants I use to train. Surely everyone would be looking at me strangely."

Nanoha looked at her for a few seconds and zipped up her skirt. She didn't think they would look at her just because it was weird, it was most likely to be for the same reason than with the smaller skirt. In fact, with the normal uniform she already made many eyes look at her whenever she walked by them… She grunted, lately she couldn't help feeling "overprotective" with her friend and every time some man began to stare at the blonde, she would scare him with a look that made him ran away in terror.

"You should have used Bardiche," Nanoha unbuttoned her jacket as Fate did the same, noticing the change in mood.

"…I hadn't thought about that," Fate smiled and turned to face her. "Are you alright? You seem a bit mad."

The brunette shook her head, tying to soften the bad-tempered expression that had appeared on her face at the thought of all the eyes that would have looked at Fate that morning… and of which she hadn't been able to protect.

"I was just thinking that…" she licked her lips, looking for a credible excuse, "sometimes I miss your old barrier jacket." The red eyes of her friend looked at her curiously and she raised a hand to her chin to think about how to express it. "Hmmm… it had better … fanservice?"

As an answer a jacket hit Nanoha's face. Fate grabbed her own from Nanoha's hands while she kept on laughing.

"I actually like the new ones. Yours too," muttered the blonde almost done dressing herself. "Mini-skirts are perfect, you said it yourself."

"Well yeah, seeing Fate-chan with small skirt always pleases the eye," she joked with a wink, earning a reproaching look but also getting a light blush on her friend. "But, you used to show more in the past."

Fate finished buttoning jacket and then gave an annoyed look to Nanoha, who was once again sitting on the edge of the desk and watching her with an amused smile with her jacket in her hand. Fate hesitated for a moment but then her device appeared on her hand. The brunette looked at her with surprise.

"Bardiche."

"_Yes, Sir."_

A yellow light enveloped Fate's body and blinded Nanoha for a moment. When she could see again, she found Fate in front of her in her Sonic Drive form, the red belt around her waist, the straps on her arms and that sleeveless black outfit completely tight to her skin, showing each and every one of the curves in her body while the stockings stuck to her legs.

She swallowed. Fate smiled. Nanoha swallowed again.

"Did you forget about this?" she said with a voice full of sensuality and with a smile that caused Nanoha to almost lose control. "It's based on my old barrier jacket since you said you liked it." Nanoha opened her mouth but couldn't say anything and Fate's smile began to disappear, she was starting to get worry due to the brunette's reaction, she looked at her for a moment before approaching her. "Are you okay? I'm… not going to attack you, I just wanted to show you," her face now showing concern, "sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Nanoha blinked, forced herself to close her mouth, and squeezed her eyes to stop looking where she shouldn't. She shook her head and gripped the desk, at least Fate had thought her strange reaction was because she thought she was going to attack her. And actually it was, more or less, what she was thinking… although it was _her_ who would "attack" Fate.

"No…" she shook her head again and opened her eyes forcing a calm smile. "You surprised me, that's all."

"Oh…" Fate smiled and was soon back to her usual uniform. "Sorry. Well… I… should go. Thanks for giving back my uniform."

"I'll try to get it right from now on."

For a moment they stayed without saying anything, just looking at each other a bit uncomfortable in an atmosphere that had suddenly turned odd. Then they said goodbye with a rather forced smile and finally the blonde disappeared through the door.

After a few seconds Nanoha returned to her seat and heavily dropped down at the same time as she let out a long and loud sigh. She looked at the jacket in her hand and decided to put it away.

It was too hot.

* * *

**A/N: **Hey, how's everyone liking the story? funny right? well just to let you know the next couple of chapters are going to have a bit of angst but not in a "she doesn't love me" way, actually I think there's gonna be a bit more NanoFate action. So keep reading and please review. :)


	6. Violence

Being an Enforcer was something dangerous and Fate knew it when she decided to make it her dream. Many missions were long, difficult and possibly with deadly battles, but the sense of danger that filled her with adrenaline whenever she fought, made her feel truly alive.

In those fights she fought to protect her life, but also to protect those of her comrades. That's why although it was dangerous, Fate was proud of her work and she knew that her friends and teammates were also.

However, the only thing she hated was the idea of worrying her friends.

Especially if it was Nanoha who got worried.

"Can't anyone else go?"

**#06 VIOLENCE**

Fate shook her head as she sipped her drink. They had agreed to eat together and Nanoha knew something had happened when the blonde came a little late and with a worried face. So when Fate told her that she came from a meeting with Hayate and a couple of other higher ups, she knew that what she was about to hear would make her heart shrink.

And exactly that happened when she heard the name of the planet to which her friend would have to go.

"The matter is delicate, but we're not going to fight, it's an investigation mission," she put the glass down and took a deep breath before continuing. "It's true that the planet we're going to has been in war for years, but other departments are in charge of that matter… There was a huge explosion in a remote area of the battlefield, at first they had thought it might have been some base or trap from the enemy, but when they got there to investigate, they found out it had nothing to do with the war," she paused, knowing that this information was confidential, but Nanoha looked so serious, she couldn't avoid having to give an explanation of what she would be working on for the next few weeks. "The black market wanted to use the confusion and disorder caused by the war, to bring some goods to make an exchange. They were Lost Logia." Fate saw Nanoha's hand clung to the napkin so she stretched her own over the table and gave her a gentle squeeze. "That's why they called Hayate, they want us to investigate so I'm not going as Enforcer, but as a researcher of the Riot Force 6. The battle is near the place of search, but the land troops will take care of that, we're just going to infiltrate the warehouse, don't worry."

Nanoha nodded, letting go of the napkin and turning her hand to interlace fingers with Fate. Whenever she had a mission and she told her about it, Nanoha couldn't help worrying, too afraid for the life of her friend and so the blonde would always try to calm her. Nanoha this time shook her head as a lopsided smile appeared on her face.

"Even if you say that, you know I'll keep worrying," again Fate squeezed her hand lightly. "And I also know that even if I say that, if it's necessary you'll fight. Because you're so stubborn."

They both smiled and squeezed each other's hand, feeling their warmth through the gesture.

-.-.-.-.-

Fate looked with dislike at the sky of that planet. It was completely overcasted and the smoke of the battle swirled with the clouds from the horizon. She knew Nanoha would look with equal dislike at that gray sky. There you couldn't fly feely and she could almost see the pain in her eyes, not because to the darkness of it, since Nanoha enjoyed the sky even in the middle of a storm, but because of the war that prevented people from enjoying the sky above their heads.

A glow in the distance brought her back from her thoughts. At time like this, when the battle was so fierce and bloodthirsty, she couldn't help but shudder and ask questions that she knew had no logical answer. She sighed when within seconds a waterspout began to fall over the helicopter in which they were traveling.

"Seems like it's going to be an unpleasant mission," Signum murmured beside her.

"The rain will hide us better," Fate pointed out as she turned to the other occupants. "After all it is an infiltration mission."

"I still think I should go with you, Testarossa," a serious frown appeared on Signum's face. "Even if it's supposed to be an infiltration, you can't go with so few men."

Fate smiled and shook her head, she glanced back at the sky while looking for words to finish convincing her second in command. Signum could be very stubborn at times, but Fate was also, and she was starting to learn to take advantage of her position as superior.

"They didn't allow us to bring more people and I need you at the base of the TSAB, from there you'll be a bridge between our units, Riot Force 6 and the land troops. You know I can only instruct it to you, Signum," the frown of the pink haired softened. "We're just going to investigate the base of some dealers, so we don't run any risk, the battle takes place a few kilometers further," she chuckled. "And don't make me repeat the reassuring speech, I've had enough with Nanoha."

The knight smiled slyly and nodded, still not very convinced, as the helicopter started to land.

What Fate had not thought about was that that same rain would also hide the enemy. Everything had happened too fast so she wasn't quite sure of how the fight had started. It was raining harder than before and it was almost impossible to see anything. Among the deafening sound of thunders and the patter of rain, she could hear the unmistakable sound of a fight. Screams, gunshots, orders that were lost in the wind, all of them creating a terrible buzzing in her ears…

Fate still wondered where so many enemies had come from, they had been waiting in the shadows and appeared when they were least expecting it. An ambush that no one had noticed or predicted, and for which their small investigation team was not ready.

An explosion warned her that things were getting worse. Feeling helpless for not being able to help her men, she devoted herself to attacking any enemy soldier that stood in her field of vision.

"Signum!" she yelled as she fired. "What's going with Hayate?!" Another shot. "I need those damn positions!"

"We're on it, hold on Fate-chan!" Hayate's voice came through somewhat cut due to communication problems.

"I told you, Testarossa." Signum's words made her smile slightly. "I told you, I should have gone with you, I'll be there in a moment."

"Don't worry, I can handle it on my own," her voice was somewhat arrogant, which embarrassed her a little, sometimes being with Nanoha was not such a good influence. "Just give those coordinates."

"No, she'll go to your aid," even Fate was surprised to hear that voice deep and authoritative. "I'm the one responsible for the land troops, the area in which you are is neutral and it's very important, strategically speaking. We were surprised because of the dealers and that caught the attention of the rebels… You can't lose, wait for reinforcements, it's an order. We don't want to lose a battle on that front."

"I can't leave my men!" Fate yelled. "I'll end this by myself."

She didn't pay much attention to the protests of the man or the screams she could hear form Signum trying to persuade him, she wasn't thinking of wasting more time while they were all in danger. She would attack with one of her spells, with her power she could easily finish the enemies, but if she used her full potential she could create more than one problem for the Riot Force 6. Sometimes she hated all the rules of the TSAB, she hated limitations, the restrictions in her power… both she and Nanoha, and especially Hayate, were practically handcuffed. That's why she would use a powerful attack but she would make sure to take proper control of it, as the leader of that unit, it was her duty to keep her men safe.

And that's what she was thinking of doing once she had those damn coordinates.

"Here Lieutenant Yagami," the voice was still cut but could be heard clearly. "Sir, as of now I take full responsibility of the situation, I assure you that Enforcer Testarossa Harlaown will not lose that battle. I'm sending the data she needs to win."

Fate allowed herself to smile widely in spite of the situation. The encouraging words of Hayate had brought back her strength and now she knew it wouldn't take too long for everything to be over. Bardiche emitted an electronic sound and to her right appeared a window of coordinates full of green and red dots.

"I have them," she reported as she took a quick glance at them. "Green is allies, red is enemies, correct?"

She groaned when seeing the large number of opponents compared to them. She knew that's the way things were, but wanted to check, with hopes of it been the other way around.

"Correct," that was Shari crumbling her hopes. "Tell Bardiche to upload them, he'll make sure to direct the shots."

"Fate-chan, good luck, remember you're not Nanoha," they both let out a chuckle at the comment. "I know you'll be careful, try to take good control of the shots," Hayate begged her. "And finish them!"

"I think I can do it," she murmured as she began to gain altitude. "Don't worry."

"Be careful, Testarossa," Signum's voice conveyed all the concern she felt for her at that moment. "Sorry I'm so far away, from here I can't even help with the barriers."

The blonde didn't answer as she continued to move up, she didn't want to worry anyone, but she knew that this situation had been caused by her for taking the mission so lightly. She started to concentrate and a bright yellow magic circle appeared at her feet while her mind drew a plan at full speed. She could still hear the complaints from those responsible of the land and knew she didn't have much time. Or margin of error.

"You've heard it Bardiche, I leave the coordinates to you."

"_Yes, Sir."_

The circle glowed even more for one second while a couple of empty cartridges shot out and fell from that height. Fate took a deep breath and released it slowly. She had to be quick, the first thing was to ensure that none of her men suffered any damage, the attack she was about to use would take a great part of her magic and could be quite devastating, she didn't want any more casualties because of her.

"There's only four men in your unit who don't respond to the communication," Signum reported. "They might be unconscious, Shari is sending you their positions, the others are already informed."

Fate nodded, though nobody saw it. If she only had to worry about four barriers it was okay, although they would be easy to break, that was better than nothing. However, before that, she would have to immobilize her enemies, she didn't want to risk the chance of them dodging the attack and she needed a little time to concentrate her power before casting the spell.

"Let's go, Bardiche. Lighting Bind!"

The circle glowed again as Fate stretched her hand to cast the binding spells, a seconds later the screen to her right emitted a warning sound.

"_Enemies captured."_

Her device informed, making her smile. It wasn't the best spell to immobilize since it was too difficult to maintain but it worked, the enemies were too many and she needed to save energy. At that moment the screen sounded again and marked four green dots, Fate nodded with determination and concentrated on preparing the barriers for those soldiers.

There were too many factors to take into account and not so much time to check them all, but she hoped her plan would work. She looked at the sky, at least the storm that had formed over them would help a lot.

"Bardiche!"

"_Yes, Sir."_

At times like this, in which she couldn't afford any failures, she really hated the restrictions imposed on her magic. She liked to use her powers freely without having to worry if the AA rank she was limited to would be enough. But her superiors didn't think the same, apparently.

"This is suicide, Testarossa," Signum noted, which Fate was also thinking. "We should withdraw."

"They won't let us go so easily."

_Arukas, Krutas, Eygias… Gods shining from the sky, descend now under my guidance… Baruelm Zaluel, Browzel…_

The cloudy sky was darkened even more, glowing with lighting that electrified it all, and in the midst of the storm Fate raised Bardiche.

The tied enemies looked with horror at the light of the magic circle over their heads which grew even bigger threatening them, forming thousands of glowing energy balls filled with electricity.

"_Photon Lancer Phalanx Shift."_

"FIRE!"

A large number of lightings emerged from the clouds at the same time as the attacks headed directly to their targets, which had no way out. Fate suddenly felt exhausted, her breathing was ragged and she felt how the spell had drained a great part of her magic…

… To the point of not being able to stop the attack from the soldier who had appeared before her astonished eyes.

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

******A/N:** Oh! cliffhanger didn't expect that, did you. Well this is one of the chapters that has an actual continuation, oh are you wondering what's gonna happen? Is Fate dead!?... Well you'll find out next chapter, also I don't know if Fate's spell is right, I just translated it from what the author wrote, I didn't feel like searching for it in english, so if it's not exactly right then sorry, I don't think it matters that much anyway. Well keep reading and reviewing or I'll take longer to post the next chapter... no jk, I don't like threatening to get reviews, anyway thanks for reading. Ya nee :)


	7. Limit

**A/N: **Yay, chapter 7. Well since I got quite a few review from last chapter I decided to update this story instead of the other one I'm translating, I'll do that one later since I think people like this story better. But anyway here's the continuation, I know some of you don't really like the change in mood, but you'll see here that things are going back to normal, not like before but they are, slowly, also there is a third part to this little 'story', so this chapter will also have a continuation, so keep in touch, though I don't think I'll update tomorrow, but I will the day after, promise. Well please enjoy and review. :)

* * *

She had never liked hospitals. She saw them as cold and hated the quiet and sterilized environment that made everything so unnatural. She especially hated them because most of the memories she had about hospitals were painful for her.

Nanoha sighed and had to stretch out on the couch where she was. She didn't know how many hours she had been sitting there, but her body was starting to notice the consequences of that bad posture. Her back creaked in protest, and once again she moved to the same position as before. She leaned over and reached out to take back the hand that wasn't bandaged and that was lying on the bed, carefully, trying not to disturb her.

She was planning to stay there until she regained consciousness, as she always did, and just as Fate did for her. Whenever one of the two ended up wounded the other would worry, it was inevitable, it was natural. And now it was her turn to worry and wait for her friend to open her eyes and look back at her with those crimson eyes that managed to completely hypnotize her.

And that she missed so much.

**#07 LIMIT**

She swallowed. It distressed her to see Fate in that bed, bandaged and with the IV drip directly administering the serum. According to Shamal, all she had was that wound in the arm, the surgery had gone well but Fate was still too exhausted, physically, to wake up, maybe a few more hours would pass until she could see her eyes again…

She yawned.

It was already pretty late at night and she had stayed there alone after her friends tried to persuade her to leave and take some rest but, like always, they gave up seeing her determination to stay with her. Hayate had told her she was as stubborn as the Enforcer and had left the room snorting and muttering something that Nanoha couldn't understand. Now that she remembered those words, she couldn't help letting out a chuckle.

"Hayate-chan is wrong," she murmured, leaning slightly to kiss her friend's forehead. "Fate-chan is more stubborn than me, if she weren't she wouldn't be lying in this bed right now."

She looked at Fate and her smile disappeared from her lips. Fate always worried too much about others and didn't care about the danger she could run. That was one of the things she loved most about her and yet it also was one of the things she hated most, didn't she realized that if she got hurt in any way, she would get worried and sad? Just as it was happening now.

She laid her head beside Fate's, enjoying her calm face while sleeping. She brushed a lock from her face and slid her finger down her cheek, avoiding the small bandage that covered one of her wounds. She smiled with a wry gesture, she was starting to get tired of those situations that were repeated over and over like a vicious circle. One would get into something dangerous and suffer some damage, then the other would stay by her side during the recovery only to later on be the one in a dangerous situation… but Nanoha knew that the two of them liked their jobs too much to not do something for the simple fear of getting hurt.

Basically the two were just as stubborn.

Nanoha was surprised to find herself in the darkness. She didn't know what had happened but the shadows seemed to have wrapped around her, creating a distressing sense of emptiness, it almost felt as if she was floating in space. With surprise she realized that her feet were firmly on the ground, at least now she knew she was standing.

She started to walk, not because she wanted but because her feet moved on their own. Gradually her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, or maybe it was that every time there was more light… still she couldn't see much but managed to somehow distinguish a figure beside her, she had to move with care or she could bump with Fate's bed or IV, she needed to get close to the wall to know where to go, but her feet kept on walking on their own.

Suddenly the road was lit up even more and she noticed that she was nearing the end of a tunnel or cave, what exactly had happened? Where was she? Her feet continue on walking and far away she could see the figure of someone silhouetted by the light from the outside.

She stood right at the end. The landscape before her was completely covered with a layer of snow, so white that it even blinded her for a moment. She felt how someone called for her, even though she hadn't actually heard a sound. She turned to see Vita a little further away from her, with Graf Eisen over her shoulder and smirking. Nanoha looked up, searching for the sky but instead saw some icicles hanging menacingly above her head… showing the reflection of a twelve year old girl.

And then at last she understood. That place full of ruins in the snow, that period of time when she was still a little girl, that feeling of experiencing everything as a spectator… she was reliving her worst nightmare. And couldn't do anything to wake up.

She turned again to see Vita, the girl was saying something but she couldn't hear anything. She saw her smile and then say something else before laughing. She didn't need to hear it to know what her words had been: she was proud of completing the mission ahead of time and complained because it had been too easy for her liking.

She knew what would happen next. She wanted to get out of there, to regain control of her body and yell at Vita to get away so she could prepare herself to shoot a Starlight Breaker to an enemy she still couldn't see.

But as expected she could do nothing more than to watch the events happen like in a movie.

Nanoha smiled as she complained that Vita was too reckless. The mission had been easy in a way, but it had also been hard and now her body began to feel the fatigue of the battle. She walked a few steps while stretching the muscles in her shoulders that felt stiff. She brushed her hair from her face, the wind was blowing strongly in that place and made little eddies with the snow around them. Vita stood beside her as she communicated the base that they were done.

She glanced at her with a smile and that's when she saw it. Something shining on the snow, as if a clear glass was approaching them at full speed.

"Vita-chan!"

She no longer knew if it was the memory of the cry she let out at that time, or the one she was now letting out as spectator.

She pushed her companion away and stretched her hand out creating a barrier seconds before the impact. Something had collided with ferocity against her shield and made her stagger as she felt her arm hurt as if it was being torn apart. There was a small glow and out of nowhere appeared a kind of robot with two blades, one of which was preparing to throw a second blow.

Nanoha got away with a jump, the wings of the Flash Move appeared on her feet as she moved back a few meters. She caught a glimpse of how Vita was incorporating from the ground, her hat had blown away and she kept a hand on her head, still dazed by the situation. The robot though, decided she wasn't his target and prepared to once again attack the brunette, who grabbed Raising Heart with both hands and pointed at the enemy with determination. Her lips parted to shout the name of her attack and her magic power began to concentrate on the tip of her device.

Suddenly her face contorted with pain. From her hands came out several drops of blood while she staggered and lost her balance. The ball of energy barely managed to touch the robot, failing to make it stop and attack her without preamble. Raising Heart was faster than Nanoha and created a protective barrier that prevented a lethal hit, but the force from the impact caused the girl to be thrown a few feet away and fall on the cold snow like dead weight.

She gasped as she tried to sit up, her arm was bleeding and every move hurt. She coughed and the whiteness of the snow was stained with blood. The enemy was approaching again. She barely grabbed her device and tried to lift it, that simple movement made her cry in pain. It hurt. It hurt too much. She saw the robot standing right in front of her and in the background she could see the look of horror on Vita's face.

The next thing she can barely remember. The robot destroyed, her friend's arms around her, the voice that desperately called her… she remembered Vita with tears in her eyes turning to see who had appeared behind them, there were screams she couldn't hear and then she saw her.

Fate-chan lunged at her, falling to her knees and holding her face with both hands. Nanoha's eyes were half opened, about to fall back into unconsciousness, but she didn't want to stop looking at those red eyes that were filled with tears as she was saying something.

She closed her eyes shut.

Her breathing was heavy due to the impression caused by that memory. Why was she dreaming about that now? It made no sense. There was no point on remembering an event that happened years ago and that also was not pleasant for her at all. The distressed look of Fate had been so clearly engraved in her memory that even now she could see it clearly with complete accuracy. That look of concern, the pain in her eyes to see her hurt, those watery eyes, the trembling lip while she said something… something she never managed to hear but deep down she knew what it was.

She noticed her hand being squeezed. She realized she was lying in the hospital bed at the same time that she looked up to see the person who owned the hand that clutched hers. The Enforcer looked at her with a calm smile on her face, with her burgundy eyes half opened due to the fatigue.

"Good morning," she whispered and Nanoha jerked up opening her mouth to answer the greeting. But instead she let out a muffled gasp followed by a series of hiccups. "Nanoha...?"

Fate saw her cover her mouth with her hands, wiping the tears in a vain attempt to stop crying. The brunette swallowed, felling stupid for crying like that. She had so many things to tell her, things like how happy it made her to see she was okay, or how reckless she had been and so deserved a punishment… or how much she cared for her…. so many things, that it seemed like a waste of time to cry.

She gasped when feeling something touch her cheek. Fate had sat up and was watching her with concern. The blonde smiled and once again caressed her cheek gently, with her hand full of bandages which only managed to make Nanoha cry even more. She collapsed onto her lap and grabbed the sheets, trying to control the tears. The dream had affected her more than she thought… and she was also so happy Fate had regain consciousness…

Slowly she stopped crying, while her friend's hand gently stroking her hair, repeating the gesture over and over again, wordlessly comforting her.

"What an idiot…" she finally said, lifting her head to wipe her tears with the back of her hand. "I should be the one comforting you, you're the sick one here."

"Nanoha…"

The words got stuck in her mouth when seeing her friend so close. The brunette had moved closer and stared at her with their faces a few inches away, and Fate found herself blushing and swallowing, seeing those blue eyes brighter than ever fixed on hers and conveying thousands of feelings. Nanoha closed her eyes and let out a sigh that made Fate shiver when she felt it on her skin.

"I'm so glad you're okay…" she whispered, clinging to her friend's pajama. "Really…"

She lowered her head, leaning her forehead on Fate's chest. She could hear the beating of her heart and that made her let out a new sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry," Fate muttered, frowning. "I made you worry so much… I'm sorry."

"You did the same."

"Huh?"

Nanoha lifted her head again and smiled while she brushed away a strand of that long blond hair.

"When I was injured," she explained. "The first thing I saw when I awoke were Fate-chan's eyes… and then you started to cry while thanking that I was fine."

Fate looked away. The memory wasn't pleasant, she would rather see herself in that bed a million times, wounded, than seeing Nanoha again in that state.

"What happened to you was way worse," she said almost in a whisper. "I was really worried…"

"Now I know exactly how much you worry about me," the crimson eyes met again with blue ones, which smiled a little sadly. "Because I worry exactly the same about you."

They stayed staring at each other for what seemed like hours until finally the brunette broke the contact before starting to laugh.

"Why are you laughing?" questioned the blonde.

"I was thinking you're a lost case." Fate raised an eyebrow and Nanoha laughed again. "Of all people, you should have been the one to learn a better lesson from the accident I had. You were always by my side and I made you spend a really hard time with my recovery." Fate was about to protest but Nanoha simply placed a finger on her lips, silencing her, and frowning. "You know what happens when we reach the limit, you know it's not good to exceed ourselves, you know I worry about you if you get hurt in any way and you know the basis of my teachings. But you're still just as reckless as ever. Tell me… what's the point of me teaching my students that they shouldn't push themselves too hard, if the person I most want to learn that lesson doesn't listen to me?"

Fate stayed silent and finally gave her a half smile, she was right, she knew all of that and still couldn't help working too hard, even if the consequences were bad.

"But Nanoha does the same," she noted. "Don't expect the _students_to listen to you if the _teacher_doesn't apply her own lesson on herself."

Nanoha let out one of her characteristic laughs and tapped Fate's nose as she muttered, "Touché." She had to admit she had been caught, and as she had thought before, the two were equally stubborn. Maybe Hayate was right after all.

Nanoha dropped on the bed and stretched her arm out to encourage Fate to lie next to her, something to which she quickly agreed. The blonde used her friend's arm as a pillow and snuggled against her chest, sighing wearily and closing her eyes ready to rest.

"…Fate-chan?" asked the instructor after a few minutes, receiving a mumbled response. "Why do we continue to strive to the limit, even though we know we'll end up hurt and worrying those who care for us?"

"Because we are stubborn."

"I thought so."

**To Be Continued…**


	8. Pain

Fate stared at her arm. The bandage was still in place but at least she no longer had to use the sling and could move more than before. She stretched her arm as far as the bandages allowed her and then pulled it back.

"It hurts, right?" Nanoha's voice made her turn around. "You're not completely recovered, don't ask too much from yourself."

The blonde nodded and looked at her hand with a small frown. It was true, it still hurt if she did certain movements and the recovery had been quite problematic, but at least she had managed to get out of the hospital.

"I couldn't wait to leave the hospital…"

"Shamal better not hear you say that…" Signum commented from the driver's seat. "… again."

Nanoha laughed at the comment and Fate could even see a poorly disguised smile on Signum's face through the mirror. She couldn't help smiling also. Every time she was on her way home after some time in the hospital, she would say the same thing. She just really hated being kept in the hospital.

**#08 PAIN**

Signum left them in front of the building where they had their apartment and said goodbye to them before turning back with the car. Fate raised her hand to wave goodbye but had to hide a gesture of pain when feeling something pull in her shoulder. Which didn't go unnoticed to the brunette on her side.

They entered the building and headed for the elevator. The enforcer called insistently, she really wanted to get to their home. Once inside, Nanoha got behind her and even though Fate tried to turn around to follow her, she didn't let her. Fate noticed how she undid the ribbon that held her hair and removed it, but not before passing her hand several times through her blond hair, enjoying the silky feeling of it.

"Okay, stay still," Nanoha said between giggles, standing in front of her.

"What do you want to play?"

As an answer she received a playful smile that made Fate raise an eyebrow, a gesture she repeated when seeing her friend stretched her hand showing her the object she had just removed from her hair. She pretended not to understand her but, upon the angry gesture of Nanoha, she smiled and leaned forward to allow the object to be placed in her eyes.

She felt herself shiver noticing the girl so close to her, placing the fabric and making sure she couldn't see anything. She let herself get carried away by the touch from Nanoha's fingers as she knotted the cloth, and gulped when she realized the breathing of the brunette very close to her ear.

"Can you see anything?"

Nanoha backed away from her and laughed at how the girl was trying to find her. She ran from her across the elevator and when she was about to get caught, the doors opened with slight tinkle.

"Make sure I don't bump into something," said the blonde.

"And if I don't…?"

"We'll see…"

Nanoha approached her and grabbed her arm that wasn't bandaged, to guide her carefully out of the elevator. Fate looked like a walking robot, she was sure she would bump into something, like it happened the last time they played that little game.

"Don't worry, this time I won't leave you," she whispered close to her ear. "I don't want you to get hurt."

Fate felt relieved at those words and started to walk with more ease, simply letting herself be carried away by her friend. Nanoha stopped in front of the door and looked for the keys to then open it wide and let Fate pass.

"Do we have to play this every time one of us prepares something?"

"It's fun, don't deny it."

They both giggled. The truth was that they really enjoyed playing to be the "puppet and puppeteer", like the brunette once called it. They reached the living room and Nanoha placed her friend in front of the table. Fate turned her head curious, trying to follow the noises made by her friend moving around the whole room frantically, apparently putting some things on their place and preparing others.

"I get it." Nanoha stopped to look at her and smiled looking at the grin on Fate's face. "So you actually had the house a mess, didn't you?"

Nanoha shook her head. She wasn't going to let her know that part was true. And in reality the blonde probably knew what it was she would find. It was a small tradition that she had started when Nanoha left the hospital after her accident. The brunette had liked the surprise so much, that every time one of them had to stay in the hospital for any injury, when coming home the other would have something prepared for her.

Nanoha stood beside the girl and leaned into her ear as she pulled the end of the cloth to undo the knot.

"Welcome home, Fate-chan," she whispered when the cloth was away from her eyes.

Fate smiled at the huge chocolate cake that was before her. She recognized it as "the famous chocolate cake from Midoriya", recipe that Nanoha had had to learn some years ago by the request of her friend, who, if been able to, would never stop eating that cake.

"Looks delicious," she said reaching out and grabbing a bit of the cover to taste it. "You have to teach me how to do it."

"Yeah right…"

"Seriously," she turned to look at her with a frown. "You've spent years avoiding teaching me."

"It's just that I prefer to cook it myself," she protested. "What's the point if I'm not the only one who can cook this cake for you?"

Fate laughed seeing the childish expression on her friend's face and she hugged her careful not to hurt her arm.

"Thank you," muttered the blonde.

"You're welcome," she smiled. "The bath is ready just as you like it."

"See? You can do a bunch of other things for me," she laughed. "You can prepare baths too. I think I should hurt myself more often."

Nanoha pulled away from her and hit her in protest for that comment. What she didn't expect was to make a mistake and hit her in the hurt arm, causing Fate to yelp in pain.

"Sorry!"

"It's okay."

The brunette got closer to her and raised her hands, not knowing exactly what to do, repeating the apology again and again while Fate kept on telling her not to worry. Although the tears she tried to hide made clear of the opposite. Apparently she had hit her just above the wound.

The blue-eyed girl sighed sadly. Her whole welcoming plan had gone to waste for her carelessness. She lowered her head and Fate ran her hand through her hair trying to cheer her up.

"I'm fine, really," she told her. "Are we going to eat that cake or not?"

"Yes, but first you should take a bath or the water is going to get cold," she grabbed her wrist, making sure it was the good arm, and guided her into their room. "Come on, let's go."

"But that cake looks so good…"

Nanoha looked at her to see how she almost drooled looking at the dessert sideways as they walked away from it. She shook her head and dragged the girl until they were in the room, to then force her to sit on the bed.

"Come on, I'll take off the bandages," she told her as she helped her unbutton her shirt. "I'm sorry."

"Seriously, I'll hurt myself more often," Fate repeated again, trying not to laugh.

"Would you stop saying that?"

The blonde finally laughed seeing the angry face of her friend. That phrase had been said by Nanoha herself the last time she was in the hospital, and when upon arriving home Fate had prepared a table full of her favorite dishes.

The shirt was left aside and they stayed silent while the bandages were falling one by one, revealing the soft and pale skin of Fate. Nanoha blushed to see that the blonde had nothing covering her chest. She had gotten used to seeing her naked, but sometimes she still blushed when her mind wandered too much. And that was one of those times when her imagination forced her to swallow hard and look away embarrassed.

She forced herself to focus on her work and soon the arm was free of bandages.

"Thank you," Fate muttered, shaking her arm a little. She opened and closed her fist a few times and smiled with satisfaction. "It almost doesn't hurt anymore. Shamal has done a good job."

Nanoha looked apprehensively at the small mark which evidenced the injury of her companion. She took Fate's hands and got close to her to kiss the wound carefully, startling the girl. Then she gave it another little kiss and then one more, each one a little higher than the last until she touched her bare shoulder with her lips.

She raised her head and stared at the enforcer. They were so close that for a moment they both clearly noticed the breath of the other. Nanoha raised some more and finally gently kissed Fate's forehead.

"Take a bath and rest," she whispered, pulling away from her. "You have to recover soon, okay? I'll bring a piece of cake for later."

Fate followed her with her eyes until she disappeared behind the door of the room, then she flopped on the bed and closed her eyes, letting out in a sigh all the air that without realizing she had been holding.

For some reason, her wound no longer hurt.

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**A/N: **Yay, finally the last part of "Fate's little accident" as the author called it, and with a happy ending, plus some good NanoFate moments. I know many of you have been wondering about when they're finally going to confess to each other, well I'm just going to say that half of the story is about their life before being in a romantic relationship and the other half is about their life as a couple, and if you carefully read the A/N in the first chapter, plus some simple math, then you can probably get an idea of when that event is going to happen. Well anyway, thanks for reading and please review. Bye :)


	9. Warmth

It was one of those day in which you would stay in bed not wanting to move from under the cover for anything in the world. A day in which all you wanted was to stay lazing around, languidly in bed.

Nanoha didn't know what time it was, but it wasn't like she really cared either. She finally had the day off, after a few somewhat chaotic weeks that had started to drive her crazy. A day off. A smile formed on her lips as she turned in the bed to turn her back to the light that began to enter through the window.

The person next to her soon got adjusted to her new position. The brunette smiled again and forced herself to open an eye, only to find a sea blond hair completely disheveled. She didn't know how, but Fate would always end up fitting in any space that she left, cuddling and using her as a pillow.

She closed her eye again as she passed a hand over her friend's body and drifting herself back to sleep.

**#09 WARMTH**

When Nanoha awoke again she found herself still with her back to the window. Through her closed eyelids she could see that the light had noticeably increased since she woke up before. A few hours must have passed since then. She shifted, too lazy to finally decide to awake completely.

Finally she opened her eyes and blinked to find a pair of burgundy eyes looking at her with an amused expression and a smile on her face. Fate's smile broadened as she continued watching Nanoha with her head resting on one arm. Nanoha returned the smile.

"Good morning"

"Good morning" she answered. "Have you been awake long?"

"Like…" she glanced above the brunette's shoulder at the clock. "Half an hour"

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"Yesterday you seemed too exhausted to even consider doing so" she let out a short laugh. "In fact, I don't think I would've managed to wake you up"

"Surely" she admitted with a smile, mimicking Fate and placing an arm under her head. "The last couple of weeks have been really horrible"

"Totally" Fate nodded. "I thought we would never get some rest. Luckily things finally have calmed down. I was starting to worry about you falling anywhere due to fatigue"

"It was you who fell asleep everywhere" she frowned. "You really scared me when I found you lying next to the door"

Fate laughed at that. She still couldn't remember how she got home that day. She was really tired and apparently she had simply fallen asleep upon entering. When Nanoha got home she ran into her. It wasn't that she saw her and got scared, no, she tripped over. Literally. She ended in the floor while Fate just grunted something in her sleep and continued sleeping. The next day Nanoha scolded her for being so careless with herself.

"I just felt free when I got home" she laughed. "It wasn't my fault"

Nanoha closed her eyes and sighed. Fate looked at her and couldn't help smiling. Sometimes she thought she would never get tired of seeing her.

For the past few days she and Nanoha seemed to move by autopilot, just going back and forth without being too conscious of what they did.

It had been a few really horrible days. They ended so exhausted due to work that they just went home to drop on the bed and instantly fall asleep. That's why it had been almost a week since Fate and Nanoha last had a decent conversation, and now that they were rested and finally had a day off, they had to catch up.

The blue eyes opened again.

"And what were you doing before I woke up?"

"I was watching you sleep"

The brunette felt herself blushing. The idea that Fate had been watching her the whole time made her feel a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"How fun" she said wryly.

"Don't think it's that boring" the blonde laughed. "You have a very cute expression when you sleep"

That strange feeling grew into an uncomfortable tingling that Nanoha was concentrated to ignore. Fate's smile when she said she was cute in her sleep had amazed her. She cleared her throat uncomfortable and forced herself to stop thinking that Fate's smile was the most beautiful she had ever seen.

"I'm always cute" she said with fake arrogance.

"Oh, but when you sleep you have a cute trail of drool. I was thinking of taking a picture just when you woke up"

Indignant, she sat up and tried to hit her while the blonde covered herself and laughed at her reaction. After throwing the pillow to her face, Nanoha lay back down and turned her back, angry. Fate laughed a little longer before moving and clinging to Nanoha's back. The girl tensed and closed her eyes, trying not to get lost in the pleasant feeling that appeared in her when noticing her friend's breasts glued to her back. Trying not to pay attention to the pleasant warmth that Fate gave off and that always covered her when sleeping by her side.

Fate stuck her head out above the brunette's shoulder. She smiled at the angry expression on the girl's face, frowning and with her eyes closed. She pressed her cheek to hers.

"I won't forgive you" Nanoha stated.

"Come on…" the blonde begged.

"No"

There was moment of silence. Both enjoying the closeness, feeling the familiar smell of the other, feeling the warmth of their embrace.

"Want to know what I was doing?" Nanoha opened her eyes, but didn't move. "Thinking"

"Thinking" repeated the girl and snorted. "And about what? Where the camera could be at?"

Fate laughed and shook her head slightly, making their cheeks rub against each other. Nanoha couldn't help smiling at that.

"I was thinking how nice it is to be home"

"Yes… I know"

The brunette turned to be face to face with the blonde. Fate smiled and got closer to put her forehead on hers. They stared into each other's eyes, hugging, so close that their breaths mingled in the little space between them.

Nanoha closed her eyes, not very sure that she could endure much longer. The contact with Fate was something normal. It was natural for them to always be next to each other, hugging, touching… it was normal and daily torture for her.

"You know? For years I thought I had no home" Fate whispered. Nanoha once again opened her eyes to find that now it was Fate who had them closed. "Thanks to Alicia's memories I remembered the warmth of a home but, my house was always so cold and I didn't feel at ease. I didn't want to go back, ever… and when Lindy-san adopted me, I could finally start enjoying the warmth of a family for myself… but this house, this warmth… it can't be compared to anything else.

"Fate-chan…"

She moved to curl up in Nanoha's arms. Her head lying on the brunette's chest as she simply listened to the beating of her heart and enjoyed the caresses on her hair.

Fate hugged her tighter as a smile began to form on her face. She loved the warmth of Nanoha's embrace, she loved that familiar smell given off by the girl, she loved the softness of her skin the way in which she was stoking her hair, she loved Nanoha's smile, she loved her eyes with that peculiar shade of blue… she loved Nanoha. She loved being with Nanoha.

"This is my home"

The brunette stopped stroking her hair for a moment and looked at the blonde head hidden in her chest. She hesitated a second before further entangling her fingers through those golden threads. For a moment she would have swear that Fate had meant that her home was in her arms. And that confused her.

She smiled, shaking her head. _"You have to stop being so naïve" _she told herself. Fate obviously meant that that place was her home since she had finally gotten a real life thanks to her efforts.

Suddenly Fate started to laugh. First it was a chuckle, but soon it became a laugh that got her whole body shaking. Nanoha raised an eyebrow.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Your…" she let out another laugh while getting slightly separated. "Your stomach just growled in an incredible way!"

Fate's laughter became stronger when the brunette's cheeks blushed at her words. A second later Nanoha was frowning and once again turning her back on Fate.

"I'm hungry, what's the big deal?" she pounded. "Are you never hungry or what?"

Fate gradually stopped laughing and got up to sit on the bed. She looked at the girl beside her with a big smile seeing her angry expression again. She leaned towards her and gave a soft kiss on the cheek which startled Nanoha and forced her to turn to look at her in surprise.

"I'll make breakfast" Fate said. "It'll take me a minute"

Nanoha watched her get out of bed and, a few seconds later, disappear through the door, she let out a sigh and rolled on the bed onto her back, staring at the ceiling. A smile began to form on her lips as she closed her eyes.

"Welcome home"

* * *

**A/N: **Yay! I finally updated after a week of nothing, but I'm back and with a chapter full of fluff. How did you guys liked it, good huh? things seem to be heating up, but don't get too excited, there's still quite a few things to happen, trust me, one of those things will happen next chapter, and just to give you all a hint, the angst will be coming back, I know some of you don't like the change in mood, but please bear with it, the moment we've all been waiting for is getting near, kind of. Anyway thanks for reading, for all those who follow the story and for all your reviews, they make me really happy when I read them. Okay then keep in touch, see ya later! :)


	10. Hell

**A/N: **Hi everyone, so here's chapter 10, I just have to give you a heads up, this is a complete change in mood from last chapter, please don't be upset the happiness will come back later, like in three more chapters, everything is building up so don't stop reading, this chapter does have a continuation. Well in any case please go head and read hope you like it, please review, let me know your opinion and what you think will happen next. Later :)

**priest1drago:** No, they are not lovers, yet. But they will, soon.

* * *

Our mind works in an incredible way. When something turns to be pleasant we remember it fondly, when something leaves a negative mark on us, that memory can sometimes even be blocked.

If Fate learned something from Nanoha, it was to look at things in a positive way, her happy memories took precedence over her dark past and slowly, she began to forget it. But nevertheless, Fate knew that she now was who she was thanks to her past, that's why she felt obligated to not completely forget about it, that's why she wrote the "T" from Testarossa in her name, to remember who she is, who she once was.

Despite everything, over time the cruelest memories from her childhood had practically disappeared from her memories.

Except when she dreamed.

**#10 HELL**

Nothing is more horrible and distressing than living your most dreaded nightmare and not being able to wake up. The choking sensation, the tightening feeling in the chest and the anxiety you feel while you cry to be awakened from that dream and run away as fast as you can.

Fate knew that feeling perfectly well.

When you use magic, you manage to get the reality and fiction to combine, sometimes you even reach a point where you don't know what's real, what's magic or what's a dream. That's why, when Fate dreamed she never knew if it was real or not. Her own subconscious deceived her and made her believe that there would come a day when it would all become reality, for that reason the fantasy was always so real and frightening, so much that she couldn't do anything against it.

Yes, Fate knew that feeling well, that's why a chill ran through her body when she found herself standing in the center of that hall she knew too well. She turned around contemplating the circular room. The floor shining in a pale blue, the walls with columns and curtains that were lost in the high ceiling… she swallowed and ran her eyes over the red carpet before her, until its end, a staircase crowned by a small and frightening throne.

She sighed seeing the empty seat, but the anxiety was still there. She could feel the threat, the approach of danger, she knew she had to get out of that place. Without further ado, she ran away from the throne, to the only large door in the room, which was closed preventing her from escaping. Her footsteps echoed in the silence and the door made a dull sound when she tried to open it in vain.

"Please…" her voice was a stifled plea by the anxiety as she tried to open the gate again. "Please…"

She turned pale when hearing a noise behind her. The despair grew inside her as she abruptly pushed the door, but she only got the same result as before. She heard a sound she knew well, someone was rattling their nails. The door remained unmoved so she had no other choice but to face who was behind her.

The woman sitting on the stone throne stopped rattling her sharp nails against the armrest. Her chin resting on the back of one of her hands, the lilac gray hair covering one of her cold eyes while the other watched her intently and with a serious expression that gradually became a mocking smile.

"Aren't you going to try again?" her voice echoed through the room and made the blonde tremble. "You usually try a couple more times"

Fate swallowed and frowned trying to show a courage she didn't feel.

"I'm not afraid of you" the smile of Precia Testarossa widened at that. "So let me go"

"You know why you're here, Fate" she showed an exasperated expression and made a gesture with her hand. "So move closer so I can get started"

"I won't let you torture me again, mother"

Precia's eyes flashed and Fate gasped when a pair of chains appeared from the ceiling and wrapped around her wrists. She struggled against them but only managed to hurt herself, the chains glowed with a blinding purple and began to pull her. She lost her balance and ended up face down on the ground before being dragged by them to the center of the blue circle, where the chains forced her to rise up to be hung from them.

She hated being like that.

"You're not my daughter" the voice was monotonous, without a hit of emotion but it managed to stun Fate, who finally stopped moving. "Don't call me mother, you're nothing but a failed experiment, a copy of my true daughter. I have only one daughter and her name is Alicia. You are nobody"

The truth dug into her heart like blades. She knew that each of those words were true and she couldn't help to be hurt by them, despite all the years that had passed since she discovered the truth, it still hurt her.

The first hit came. In her cheek, a hit caused by force she couldn't see. She couldn't defend herself and she couldn't escape, all she could do was to wait for the next hit. It didn't take long to come, this time against her stomach and behind it came a third and then a fourth. Her clothes began to rip, the wounds began to bleed and it felt like the chains would break her wrists at any time.

She closed her eyes tightly. She was dreaming. That was a dream, she had dreamed that nightmare thousands of times, she had been tortured in her dreams again and again, but in the end that was it, a dream. She opened her eyes and looked with disdain at the woman sitting in her throne. The smile in Precia's lips disappeared and she finally stood up. Her calm steps echoed on the walls while the object in her hand turned into a whip.

Fate's cry at the first stroke resounded through the room. She was dreaming, those strokes were not real. A second stroke made her writhe in pain. Precia had disappeared years ago, that was a dream, a nightmare.

"You're not dreaming" the blonde looked at her with surprise, running out of breath for a moment. "That's what you were thinking, right? It's not a dream"

"Yes it is" another stroke made her cry again. "I'm dreaming… like always"

"If you were dreaming… you would be in bed"

The chains loosened up and Fate fell like dead weight. She was surprised to see that instead of hitting the hard ground, she fell on a comfortable mattress. She blinked confused and the chains pinned her arms against the back of the bed while two new chains did the same with her feet.

"What the…?"

Precia walked up to her and stroke her cheek with a grim smile. A drop of sweat trickled down Fate's face while her mother sat on her, with a leg on each side.

"You're not so different from me" Precia leaned against her and put her mouth to the blonde's ear. "Deep down you're just like me… and you know it"

She opened her eyes shut.

She stared at the ceiling with dilated pupils and breathing hard. She sat up, trying to calm down. She had finally woken up from that nightmare… she ran a hand across her forehead, her hair was stuck to her skin due to the layer of cold sweat that covered her. She turned her face to see the person sleeping beside her, quietly and oblivious to her fears, after all this time Fate had learned to dream and wake up quietly so as not to worry Nanoha.

She leaned slightly to remove a brown hair from her face. When would she stop having those horrible nightmares? Usually she had them after a mission, when she killed someone Precia always appeared to torture her, a kind of punishment she imposed on herself. But this time it had been different…

She stared at Nanoha's calm face. Her mouth half opened letting in and out the air in a rhythmic way, her chest rising and falling with each breath, she had gotten uncovered and her shirt had moved so that a part of her underwear could be seen… Fate felt how a strange feeling came over her chest and spread to her stomach, to her belly, downwards… she swallowed as she bent down to get closer to Nanoha. She licked her lips.

"_You're not so different from me"_

A drop of sweat slid down from her forehead, ending at the tip of her nose. She stayed with her eyes wide open, looking at Nanoha's sleeping face underneath her. She was practically placed over her just like Precia had been in her dream. Her hands trembled. She wanted to wake Nanoha up, she wanted to get on top of her and hold her while her lips traveled over her and her hands explored every inch of her.

"_Deep down you're just like me… and you know it"_

The drop of sweat finally fell from her nose and landed on the brunette's cheek. Fate broke apart abruptly and stood up putting her hand to her mouth and then she ran to the bathroom. She was a monster, she was so disgusted with herself that she couldn't help throwing up. She looked with disgust at her reflection in the mirror.

She was a demon and deserved the hell she lived in her dreams.

**To Be Continued…**


	11. Lie

Everyone has something they want to hide, and it is inevitable to have secrets when you want to hide something, anything, for any reason. But hiding a secret is not easy, much less if it's from the person you love most.

Because lying is inevitable when you don't want to tell the truth.

Any child would say they're tired of listening to adults repeat that they should not lie, but they themselves are the first ones to do so. People lie, hide things, change the truth and most times they do it for purely selfish reasons. You can lie for various reasons, perhaps to make fun of someone or to avoid a punishment. There are also white lies and those told for someone's safety.

But when it is your own safety it gets worse, you get to a point where you'd do anything to hide it. Anything. Even if it ends up hurting someone.

**#11 LIE**

From the first moment she saw them, Nanoha was fascinated by the Burgundy eyes of who now was her best friend. Those red eyes captivated her when they looked at her for the first time and from that first instant all she wanted was to know what lay behind that look.

Now, years later, she could feel proud of understanding the owner of those eyes just by looking at her. However that didn't help when Fate decided to avoid her.

Nanoha hated those moments. The looks became shifty and Fate looked for any excuse to not spend too much time by her side. On those occasions the brunette didn't know what to do or how to act and that caused a swirl of contradictory feelings that threatened to drive her crazy. On one hand she wanted to help her best friend, on the other she felt disappointed to see that despite the years Fate was determined to solve her problems without her. And it wasn't hard to see that something had happened, that something was tormenting the blonde, but she refused to say a word about it.

"Fate-chan, are you sure you're okay?" the girl stopped playing with the food that was still untouched and nodded. "Are you sure you don't have a stomach ache?"

"No…don't worry, I guess I must have eaten something bad last night"

The brunette nodded, not very convinced by it. She had awakened at midnight when the sound of retching had come from the bathroom and, after getting up and running to see what had happened, she found Fate leaning over the sink, looking in the mirror with her face completely pale and sweating, and an expression of hatred towards her reflection.

Since then she had remained silent and distant. She even left to work before her.

"Hey…" Nanoha looked around the cafeteria, not knowing very well how to bring it up. "Did you… have another nightmare, by any chance?"

Fate's back stiffened and her face turned pale. She had been right.

"No" she said instead. "Of course not, you know I haven't had nightmares for a long time…"

Nanoha resisted the urge to let out an exasperated sigh and scold her friend for not counting on her at those times. She tightened her grip on the fork she had in hand to the extent that her knuckles turned white. She didn't know who Fate was trying to fool, but she was sure those nightmares still tormented her at night, especially when she returned from a long mission in which, Nanoha was sure, she had to end someone's life. Even if she didn't wake her up, even if she didn't tell her about them, Nanoha knew she had had them because the next day Fate avoided her.

Just like it was happening now.

"Yeah… sure"

She looked down at her food to avoid looking at her reproachfully. She hated it when Fate behaved that way, but Nanoha knew she couldn't do anything. Besides, this time there was something different, something that worried her more than usual. It seemed as if Fate avoided her more than ever, as if she felt uncomfortable being with her. Most of the time she was just a little quieter than usual, but she never behaved so coldly as she was doing now, as if the mere idea of being at her side made her sick.

"I have to get back to work" the blue eyed saw her stand and grab the intact tray of food. "Bye"

"Fate-chan…" her tone was pleading and the blonde stopped for a few seconds. "We had… we had planned to watch a movie tonight, remember?" she tried to smile but all she got was a grimace seeing that Fate didn't move. "At what time will you get home? I'll make dinner…"

She feared the answer she would get and the knot in her stomach worsen when the Enforcer's face turned slightly to see look at her with an expression completely apathetic.

"I don't know at what time I'll be done, Nanoha. I have… a lot of work, you know"

She nodded and lowered her head as Fate walked away from her. The blonde was definitely stranger than usual and that worried her, it made her sad and, she speared a piece of potato with violence, it also made her angry.

"You are so stubborn"

-.-.-.-.-

Shamal knocked on the office door of her mistress and waited until she was allowed to pass. When Hayate saw the serious expression on the doctor's face she knew she was in trouble. She sighed, leaving the pen on top of the report she was reading, willing to endure the speech she was sure to receive from the blonde.

"Teanna and Subaru are both again in my office with their bodies full of bruises. Today I almost had to put a cast on one of Subaru's arms!" her eyes flashed and pointed at her superior with an accusing finger. "I don't care how you're going to do it but you have to stop Nanoha from trying to kill her student, she has been giving me more work than ever this whole week, and it's getting worse, Hayate!"

The lieutenant colonel raised a hand to her neck and massaged the muscle that was starting to tightened. She had been all week receiving people's complaints about the obviously aggressive behavior of her subordinate but, she sighed, what could she do against the White Devil?

"You're not the first to tell me" she said with a resigned sigh. "But you know she has to solve her problems by herself"

"You know perfectly what the problem is. You know that for the last week Fate has been avoiding her and hardly speaks with her, and that makes Nanoha way too dangerous. When she is not acting like a lost soul, she's trying to destroy her students and of keeping it up she'll succeed in it!"

Hayate frowned. She knew Shamal was right and she considered it for a moment before making a screen appear at her side. She had waited too long.

Minutes later Shamal was gone and Hayate watched the landscape from her window as she thought about what she would say to her friend. She didn't even know why they had fought this time but she hated that they both were so stubborn. Someone knocked on the door and she allowed them to pass. She waited for her fried to come in and shut the door before turning to face her. Fate was sitting in the chair in front of her desk, looking at her with indifference. Hayate shivered slightly at the sight of her eyes so dull.

"What do you want?" she asked bluntly.

"What's wrong with you, Fate?"

Hayate saw her frown and look at her angrily. She noticed the small dark circles under her eyes and knew that the blonde wasn't having a better time than Nanoha.

"Nothing's wrong, is that all you called me for?" she said annoyed. "I was in the middle of a report…"

"I called you because I need to know what's wrong you. What's wrong with both of you" the burgundy eyes narrowed at the last part. "Why did you have a fight this time?"

"We didn't have a fight"

"It's obvious that you had a fight"

"We didn't have a fight!"

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Fate stood up, slamming the table with her hands. "Nothing's wrong! And even if there was it doesn't concern you"

They looked at each other for a moment in silence. Fate breathing hard as she looked with rage at the chestnut, who simply sighed and sat in her chair. If she couldn't fix it the good way…

"Well, it does concern me because you are my friends, but also because that _nothing_ you said is happening is affecting you work, so I do care" the blonde clenched her jaw to see how Hayate had gotten on the role of 'Lieutenant Colonel of the Mobile Section Six'. "You don't stop working, not even to eat, and Nanoha…"

"If you have any complaints about me said them, but what Nanoha does, really is none of my business"

A slight twitch was seen in Hayate's eyebrow. That was it, that was the last straw.

"Are you listening to what you're saying, Fate?" she looked away. "It's none of your business? And you still dare say that nothing's wrong, that you didn't have a fight…

"We didn't have a fight…" she muttered, still with her eyes on the ground.

"I don't care, I want you to talk to her" she raised a hand to silence any complaints from Fate. "Talk to her. Do it. I do not care how or where, talk to her because if you don't do it by yourself, I'll use a spell to immobilize you and I myself will make sure to drag you all the way to talk to Nanoha Takamachi. Do I make myself clear?"

-.-.-.-.-

Nanoha wasn't surprised to find the place all dark. Fate would surely already be asleep or she would just not spend the night there, it didn't surprise her anymore because she had found the lights off for a week now. But still it hurt the feeling of loneliness she felt when opening the door and finding everything in darkness.

She went to the kitchen while unbuttoning her uniform jacket and opened the fridge to get some milk. When she turned with the bottle in hand she almost dropped it to see that there was a shadow sitting on the table. Quickly she turned the lights on and didn't know whether to let out a sigh of relief to see it was just Fate or to curse because it had to be her.

"Hayate asked me to talk to you"

Nanoha frowned as she watched her stand. Definitely, curse because it had to be her.

"Oh, so now you have to be asked so you deign to speak to me" she spoke ironically as she took a cup to fill it. "Good"

"It's not… It's not that"

"Fate" the blonde made a grimace hearing her name without the familiar suffix after it. "You've been a week without talking to me, without looking at me, you've been a week avoiding me and now you're talking to me because Hayate asked you. What, am I supposed to jump of happiness? I don't even know what I did this time!"

"You didn't do anything…"

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong…"

Nanoha left her cup of milk with a resounding hit and took two steps to stand in front of Fate. Her patience finally lost after that absurd week.

"Then why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you"

She grunted before she charged at her. Fate opened her eyes wide, surprised to see how Nanoha grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back abruptly. She took her arms instinctively and suddenly her back hit hard against the kitchen wall. She groaned.

"Don't say you're not avoiding me! Don't say nothing's wrong! Don't say that I haven't done anything!" the brunette shook her with every yell and Fate let herself be banged against the wall, still too stunned by such reaction. "Because it's not true! Because… it's not… true…"

The grip weakened and Nanoha lowered her head, completely dejected. Fate gulped when she hear a hiccup and felt her shirt getting wet.

"Na…noha?"

"What hurts me most is that you lie to me" she said in a choked whispered against the blonde's chest. "And the worst of all, is that I can't understand why"

She let her go and without a word, without letting their met or give time for Fate to react, Nanoha left the kitchen. The blonde raised a hand to her head and brushed her bangs away while letting herself slide to the ground.

A slam echoed through the house.

**To Be Continued…**

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**A/N: **Oh what's gonna happen, now? So much drama. I know that not much happened in this chapter, next chapter will be the last part and we'll finally know the conclusion to all this mess. And just so some of you don't get depressed about it, I'm gonna say that there's three more chapters, well kind of two and a half, until the moment we're all been waiting for, so don't stop reading and reviewing, kay? then see you all next chapter ;)


	12. Wet

**A/N: **Just wanted to say one thing before you start reading: Please don't think any bad or perverted thing from the title, I know it sounds kinna naughty, but it had nothing to do with _that _so don't get excited or anything. It has to do more with the fact that there a lot of angst and crying in this chapter, well not _a lot, _but there is and well it makes more sense in spanish than english, so it's kinna hard to explain, but anyway, please read and I'll explain some other things at the end. :)

* * *

She didn't know how long she sat there on the floor, hugging her legs with her head resting on her knees as she thought about everything that had happened. She didn't know how much time had passed since Nanoha ran out of that same kitchen, but when she realized it, the first traces of sunlight were lighting up the place. She hadn't moved since then and could feel her body ache from sitting on the floor. She closed her eyes and sighed again. What had she done? She couldn't understand how she could have been so selfish and worry Nanoha like that, make her cry for something of which the only one to be blamed was herself.

She raised her head and looked around the empty kitchen. The milk bottle was still where the brunette had left it, along with that cup with a yellow design reminding her of Bardiche.

Fate closed her eyes again recalling the discussion from hours ago.

**#12 WET**

Overnight, the blonde had reached to two conclusions. The first one was that she was an idiot. The second one was that she couldn't stay any longer without Nanoha. So she had no other alternative but to beg forgiveness like the idiot she was. And that was it.

Without further hesitation she left in search of the girl. But when she left her building and felt a strong anguish about not knowing where to find her, Fate was aware of the true need she had to apologize. A strange sense of panic came over her and she looked at every direction desperately. Where was she?

"_Maybe I can help, Sir?"_

Burgundy eyes blinked as they moved to Bardiche, slightly shining awaiting an order. She cradled it in her hands and held it to her lips with a small smile dancing on them as she felt herself calming.

"Bardiche…"

She allowed herself a moment to regain her composure and think clearly. Her device could help her find Nanoha. Surely the instructor would have restricted her communications, so she wouldn't be able to contact her, but she hoped that at least she could locate Raising Heart.

"_Order, Sir?"_

"Thanks, Bardiche" she murmured with genuine appreciation. "Search for Raising Heart, please"

"_Found it"_

"Good" she let out the air she had been holding without realizing and nodded. "Give me the location and let's go look for them"

"_Yes, Sir. Barrier Jacket"_

Getting to Hayate's house didn't take her long. She crossed the sky like a golden ray and didn't even mind that they could punish her for flying with her barrier jacket and without permission to do so. When she was outside the door, she returned to her normal clothes while taking a deep breath and gathering all her courage to, finally, ring the door bell. After a few endless seconds Hayate opened the door and Fate took a step without thinking, trying to look inside over the shoulder of the girl while asking for Nanoha. However, after hardly speaking a word the girl pushed her away and stepped out herself before closing the door behind her.

"Okay, Fate" she said in greeting, her voice heavy with irony. "Are you out of your mind? How could you tell her that _I _was the one who asked you to talk to her?"

"How's she?" she asked anxiously, realizing that, yes, Nanoha was there.

"Bad…" She answered honestly. "She came screaming at me for sending you to talk. But soon her yells became sobs…" Fate looked down and Hayate hesitated a moment before deciding to continue. "She has been crying since then"

"I…"

The blonde was silent, she had no excuse. What could she say? Nothing justified her behavior, nothing but her cowardice. And of course she couldn't explain that she was afraid.

"What's going on, Fate?" she asked bluntly. "She doesn't understand what happened. And frankly, neither do I. You're hurting her… and you're hurting yourself"

Burgundy eyes remained fixed on her feet realizing that she hadn't even thought about what she would say once she found Nanoha. She had simply followed her need to see her and apologize, but now that Hayate asked about the reason for her behavior, Fate realized she couldn't simply tell the truth.

"I…" she hesitated, felling a nasty knot in her stomach. "I didn't want to… I…"

Hayate sighed and put a hand on Fate's shoulder. The blonde looked at her with an expression that made it clear how lost and desperate she was at that moment and the commander gave her a slight sideways smile.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do" she looked at the door for a moment. "Nanoha is just starting to calm down, let her rest a little, to cool her head. I will try to convince her to go talk to you later, ok?" Fate silently nodded. "Meanwhile, _you_ think of what you're going to say. I'll give you both the day off, after all I am your boss, right?"

The blonde nodded again and, feeling grateful but with no intention of saying anything else, just gave her a wry smile before walking away downcast. Hayate stared at her until she disappeared from her view and with a sigh, she entered her apartment.

Nanoha was still where she had left her, curled up on the couch, with a listless expression and red eyes from crying all night, her gaze fixed somewhere vague. It hurt to see her fried like that. Seeing them both like that. Hayate was aware that they both meant a lot to each other, much more than either would ever admit. And _that_ was the root of the problem.

The fear that Nanoha felt of Fate discovering her hidden feelings for her, was almost exactly the same fear that Fate felt to accept her own feelings. And although it was something that neither of them would admit, in the end they were her best friends and Hayate simply knew it. She saw it in the way that Nanoha looked at Fate when she wasn't looking, always with love but also sometimes with bad hidden desire. She saw in the affection that Fate only had for her friend and in her eyes that shone in that special way only when talking to Nanoha.

"Hey…" she whispered as she bent in front of the brunette. Her blue eyes blinked before focusing on her. "It was Fate" The mere mention of the name brought back the tears to her eyes. "I've asked her to let you rest but… Nanoha, you two need to talk. This is not doing you any good, to neither of you"

"Why do you talk in plural?" her voice was hoarse, with a clear tone of discomfort but still hurting. "She's perfectly fine with her attitude of 'I don't care about anything'"

"You know it's not like that" Nanoha had to look away before the penetrating gaze of her friend. "You also spent some time like that a few years ago, or am I wrong?"

Blue eyes looked at her with bewilderment and blinked confused while Nanoha tried to say something without much success, opening and closing her mouth several times until she gave up and looked down, biting her lip hard and frowning.

"It's not the same"

"Why not? I remember that you also spent several days avoiding her… and Fate almost went crazy because she didn't know what was happening. What's the difference?"

"That it can't be for the same reason"

"I see…" Hayate sighed and patted the couch before standing up. "I'm going to the headquarters, someone has to work. Promise me you'll go see Fate when you're calmer"

-.-.-.-.-

Fate couldn't stay still. As the day passed she had done laundry and cleaned the whole house. Twice. And now she was ordering the books from the shelves in alphabetical order. After deciding that the order by authors didn't convince her. She was going crazy and she knew it, but couldn't do anything other than wait for Nanoha to decide to give her a change to talk to her.

And if she didn't? What if she decided she didn't want to deal her weird attitudes anymore? What if she decided that that was as far as they had come? What if she left her? She hit herself with a book on the forehead. It was her fault for pushing her away. She deserved it for been an idiot.

The sound of the door made her jump and drop the book was about to place at that moment. She ran towards the entrance and stopped right in front of the door, where Nanoha looked at her with some surprise by the way she had heard her ran all the way there. Fate took a deep breath a few times to catch her breath and swallowed hard as she got a little tense seeing her there.

"I… umm… Hi" she greeted almost in an embarrassed whisper.

"Hi"

After a moment of doubt Nanoha decided to enter and headed to the living room, holding back an exclamation when she saw the chaos of books that was there.

"Um.. I've… I've been…" Fate stammered.

"Sorting" the brunette helped her as she grabbed one of the books. "Alphabetically, apparently"

"And cleaning like crazy, yeah" added the blonde.

Nanoha almost, almost smiled. But managed to contain herself as she left the book in place. An uncomfortable silence wrapped them for a few minutes. Blue eyes wandered around the house neatly ordered and cleaned thoroughly and Fate blushed a little at her friends wandering eyes.

The brunette let out a tired sigh and faced Fate. She had been too long without a good rest and was tired of that whole situation. It had taken her all day to calm down enough and gather the courage to face the enforcer and now that she was there she realized that her decision to not cry was beginning to break. So she had to end it fast.

"Well" She noticed the blonde's back tense and had to run a hand over her face and breath a few times to not start screaming. Why did it seem as if Fate was the one that had it worse of the two? Please, everything had been _her _fault! "I'm not going to ask you again" she grimace noticing that it had sounded like a threat. "I mean… you can lie to me again or tell me the truth, in any case…" she sighed, it was getting harder than she thought. And she could actually feel the tears building up again, something that angrier her even more. "I need to know" her voice broke and she had to clear her throat. "What going on Fate? Why are you avoiding me?"

Fate took a deep breath, knowing that now it was her turn to give an explanation. But the words choked in her throat. She wanted to say so many things and yet she couldn't say anything. She couldn't say any of the words that struggled to get out of her mouth so she just stared at her shoes. She had spent the whole afternoon thinking about what to say and now nothing could leave her lips. She breathed a few times, gradually getting faster, it seemed as if she was about to hyperventilate.

Meanwhile, Nanoha looked at her with some curiosity. Why did she seem so nervous, so embarrassed? Hayate's words echoed in her head but she knew it couldn't be the same thing. Several years ago she herself had ran away from Fate when she realized that her feelings went beyond mere friendship. But she knew that it couldn't be same thing, so she shook her head and walk over to the blonde.

"If you don't tell me I can't help you, Fate-chan"

The blonde's heart almost stopped at that instant. Hearing again that affectionate suffix accompanying her name from Nanoha's lips had completely shaken her. She raised her head and shivered again to see the tears that Nanoha couldn't hold back any more. She raised her hand and wiped them carefully, marveling at how her friend closed her eyes to that touch.

"I just remember one of the first things I learned from you" she said in a whisper and blue eyes opened to look at her again. "When you see a friend crying, you feel sad too" she looked at her hand, wet by the tears that she had caused. "I'm sorry, Nanoha, I'm sorry"

"Will you tell me what happened?" Fate hesitated but nodded. "Will you stop running away from me?" this time she nodded vehemently. "Come"

She led her to the couch by the hand and the two sat next to each other. Their knees touching. Their hands clasped together. Their eyes fixed on each other. For a few moments they only stayed there silently enjoying the closeness they had missed so much the past few days.

Fate took a deep breath finally willing to talk. She had concluded that it would be better to simply admit that she had a nightmare about her mother. Purposely omitting the true meaning of that dream. A dream in which her mother only represented a part of herself, a part of which she was afraid because she couldn't control it. Feelings that she couldn't control.

After what seemed like hours, the blonde finished her story and let herself be wrapped by the warm arms of her friend. Nanoha told her encouraging words and Fate shuddered to notice her so close. She raised her head and blinked at the ceiling. Her own eyes filling with tears.

"Don't keep it all to yourself again, okay?" her voice was full of emotion and Fate could only nod. "You have my support, Fate-chan, I'm here for anything you need, so don't push me away again"

Burgundy eyes closed as she gulped loudly. She didn't want her support. She didn't want her pity. She didn't want her words of encouragement. She wanted her lover. A tear escaped and slid down her cheek. It would be hard, but she would have to stop her feelings to at least keep their friendship.

Because if she couldn't have her as lover, she would at least have her as friend.

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**A/N:** So yeah, kinna sad ending, but hey two, one and a half, chapters left before the grand confession, yay. Also the author wrote, and I kinna agree, that Fate had to suffer a little when discovering her feelings, you know it gives more drama to the story and stuff. Well anyway, hope you guys liked it, next chapter will be a little happier, things getting back to normal, so keep in touch, also please leave some feed back it's always appreciated, and makes me want to work faster. So ya nee :D


	13. Chocolate

Eyes ran over the table, checking for the umpteenth time to make sure she wasn't missing anything. Once verified that everything was there, she turned to the person behind her, who was looking at her with an expression common in an impatient kid the night before Christmas.

"Okay, everything's here" she nodded in satisfaction. "Checking that nothing's missing and having everything at hand is very important if you want to avoid any problems."

Fate raised an eyebrow. The authoritative tone and the position that Nanoha had taken, with her hands on her hips and her chin slightly raised, reminded her of the many times she had seen her do the exactly same thing, when she taught an especially important class to her students. The blonde couldn't help wondering if this was exactly that, another one of the Instructor Takamachi's lessons.

But, if so, she was sure she would rather take these types of classes than any other thing in the world. Because she had no doubt that today's lesson would be very, very sweet.

**#13 CHOCOLATE**

It all went back to what happened a few days ago. One day that neither of them would forget. Or rather, that Hayate made sure, neither would forget.

That day had started like any other. Nanoha had awakened first, taken a shower, prepared breakfast and, after making sure she had ready a carafe of steaming coffee, she had gone to wake up her blonder roommate.

The morning was not much different either. After Fate got ready she had gone to the headquarters to do the so hated office work that always piled up because neither of them could stand it. Then they had a couple of meetings, solved several problems, gave orders here and there… in short, they did everything they were used to doing in any normal day.

Then it was time for lunch. Nanoha had headed down to the cafeteria after finishing a report on the progress of her recruits, she grabbed a tray of food and, after a quick look, she met with Fate, who stirred at her salad with a bored expression. Needless to say, at that time Nanoha was just as, or even more, tired of everything than the blonde, so she sat down in front of her letting out a tired sigh.

"What?" she asked as she grabbed a fork. "Long day?"

"Long week" clarified the enforcer still playing with her food. "And deadly boring."

"I know, I'm fed up with paperwork."

"You're still lucky" Fate poked a small tomato and pointed it to Nanoha. "You at least have your students' training and that's entertaining. I, on the other hand, have been a week without a single mission. A week!"

Nanoha winced as she realized how boring it probably was for her friend, who let out her frustration putting the tomato in her mouth and biting it viciously. She could understand it because she and Fate were people of action. So much that sometimes they would act before thinking. And surely that had brought them more than one problem, but the adrenaline from the combat was something to which the two had become almost addicted to. Signum was the same, even Vita, but Hayate, on the other hand, was peaceful and didn't mind going from meeting to meeting or getting behind a desk. Something that Fate and Nanoha could bear with from time to time, but not for too long and certainly without some action involved.

"I guess you're bored of so much calmness…"

"Well, yes" she shrugged slightly. "I like not having missions because it means that there's peace. But it bores me a lot" she took a sip form her drink. "Also this afternoon I have nothing important to do, so I guess I'll work on more reports."

Nanoha smirked as she chewed her food and an idea formed in her head. Fate raised her eyebrows seeing her expression and waited patiently for the brunette to swallow.

"Come to the training this afternoon" she finally said. "I'll tell them to take notes as an excuse so the two of us can train, like in the old days, what do you think?"

Fate's smile hardly fit in her face at the idea. She loved training with Nanoha but since they entered the new Unit Six, they hadn't had a chance to do it, so to think that she could once again fight against her excited her greatly. Besides, the so peaceful week had allowed her to accumulate a lot of energy to spare and, judging by the smile and twinkly in those blue eyes, surely Nanoha also had a good reserve and it wasn't a bad idea to get rid of it in a good fight.

And they certainly did get rid of those accumulated energies.

By mid afternoon they were in the training grounds, facing each other with their barrier jackets and devices ready. Nanoha's students watched from a safe distance while a pair of blue eyes and another pair of burgundy exchanged a look happy yet challenging. And then they started fighting. Attacks, speed, energy balls, cuts, barriers… sometimes the only visible thing was a trail of yellow light chasing after a pink one, or vice versa, the yellow one being chased by the pink one before several energy balls joined the persecution. And explosions. Of course there were explosions. The attacks rarely reached their target, barriers prevented the missiles from hitting the opponent and were deflected to explode against something else. Such as the training ground.

The recruits started to fear for their lives as they saw that the fight starting to heat up, the attacks became more vicious, the explosions more violent and the danger more obvious.

Until, finally, the two girls stopped. Seeing them, one against the other, as they had been at the beginning but now somewhat breathless, the students released the breath they had been holding. But the fear was not gone for long, seeing how they prepared their weapons… to both launch their most powerful attack.

A few hours later both Fate and Nanoha were facing a very upset Hayate, who was giving them a very loud speech about how reckless they were, about how they couldn't just release such amount of energy inside the headquarters and something about a destroyed training ground and a few students in the infirmary.

"It was just training" Fate muttered. "We didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"We just got _a little_ excited" the instructor stuck her tongue out. "Oops?"

"I don't want any oops, or trainings, or any other excuses!" Hayate's face was slightly purple. "You've destroyed a half of the headquarters!"

"You're exaggerating" Nanoha waved her hand to play it down. "It's just a little hole."

"Does a 10 meter crater and a destroyed facility seems like a 'little hole' to you!"

The speech lasted to what for both girls seemed like five hundred hours, and when finally the lieutenant colonel of the Riot Force 6 finished releasing all her frustration, Fate and Nanoha found themselves punished with house arrest for a week. Something that to neither of them seems like a real punishment, it was rather a blessing since they were taking it as a vacation. The only problem was that they were running out of things to do.

It was the fifth day and they had done everything, they had seen more movies than what they had ever seen in a whole month, they had cleaned and even reorganized whole the apartment. They didn't know what to do anymore, so Fate had convinced Nanoha to finally teach her how to cook the famous chocolate cake of Midori-ya.

"Okay, everything's here" she nodded in satisfaction. "Checking that nothing's missing and having everything at hand is very important if you want to avoid any problems."

Nanoha grabbed a red apron with the words "Shoot first, make friends later" on it, that Hayate had given her for Christmas a few years ago and, after putting it around her neck, she turned around making Fate a silent request to tie it from the back. The blonde took less than two seconds to get behind her and grab the strips with her hands to tie a knot around the girl's waist.

"Really, Nanoha" she said with a clear mocking tone. "Anyone would think that you fear the batter will run away if you leave for a second to look for a missing ingredient"

"Oh, no" she laughed. "But you can forget to add something if you don't have it prepared. And I speak from experience" she turned to smile at Fate. "I'm sure you wouldn't want a cake without sugar, or would you?"

Fate paled at the thought and her expression caused a laugh from the brunette. A cake without sugar would be a culinary aberration. A disgrace to all bakers and pastry teachers. And, above all, a tragedy for her, who couldn't help loving sweet things.

"The sugar's there, right?" she asked nervously. "Did you check?"

"Yeah, I do it twice since that awful strawberry cake."

Nanoha laughed at how Fate approached with a panicked expression to check for herself that the sugar was there and then let out a sigh of relief to confirm that it was. Nanoha shook her head at her friend's exaggeration and took the other apron that was next to the ingredients to place it on the blonde's neck. This time it was she who stood behind the blonder to tie it with a pretty bow and pull the long blond hair that was trapped under the strips.

"So" Fate glanced at Nanoha, who looked over her shoulder. "Should we start?"

The brunette nodded and moved to the blonde's side patting her shoulder. Fate stood watching as her friend rolled up her sleeves and look over all the ingredients, mentally reviewing the recipe. The blonde saw her bite her lip slightly while deciding where to start. She picked up the baking chocolate bars and smiled.

"You know? I think we'll have some chocolate leftover" she looked up to see Fate. "How about if some other day we buy some strawberries and cover them with it?"

"I think you're a genius."

Burgundy eyes lit up at the idea and Nanoha let out a small chuckle as she unwrapped the chocolate and broke it, trying to get it into small pieces.

"Okay, but for now let's make the cake" Fate joined her on cutting the sweet and Nanoha moved to put a small pot of water on the fire. "The first thing is to melt the chocolate, okay?"

"That, I know how to do."

They exchanged a smile. Years ago, when they were still going to school, Nanoha had given her chocolate for Valentine's Day and Fate had learned how to do it in order to return it to her on White Day. Since then, they had always exchanged sweets on those dates and so far the blonde had never stopped to think that maybe that was a little odd, considering that they were only friends… although it was clear that the two put all their feelings in the chocolate they made every year for each other, and Fate, she now knew it, had always put all her love for Nanoha in that simple sweet.

"Fate-chan?" ruby eyes widened in surprise and turned to look at her. "Didn't you want to make the cake? What were you thinking about?"

The blonde's head moved from side to side trying to force herself to stop thinking about those things. She finished breaking the last piece of chocolate and took them to put it in the water that was beginning to be hot enough.

"I got this" she grabbed a spoon to stir at the chocolate. "What else do we have to do?"

"Well then, I'll get the eggs" said and done, she grabbed the eggs and, with skill of someone who grew up in a bakery cooking a great variety of desserts, she separated the yolk form the white. "Okay, now we whip them… and add sugar."

"Perfect" Fate nodded glad to see that the sugar had not been forgotten. "The chocolate's starting to melt"

"Okay, I'll start the oven"

They divided the task between the two and, as always, they complemented each other in perfect synchrony. Whether they were in the battlefield fighting back to back, or in the kitchen making a simple dessert, the bond that united them allowed them to complement one another in that way, so exact and perfect. Nanoha mixed all the ingredients while explaining to the enforcer all the steps one by one, telling her how to do it or what she had to watch over. Fate grabbed the whisk and began to whip the batter fast, to prevent any lumps from forming, while the brunette added the egg whites, and then waited until it became stiff.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, here" she handed Fate the mold. "Pour it here. We'll put it in the over and that's it"

The blonde carefully handed back the mold with the batter in it and Nanoha made sure to take to the oven for it to get cooked. After starting the timer and making sure that the temperature was correct, she turned around and raised her eyebrows seeing Fate licking the remains of chocolate from the spoon.

"It's good"

"What do you think you're doing?" she put her hands on her hips. "You can't do that, Fate-chan?"

"I had to try it" she shrugged. "Here, look, it's good"

She handed the spoon and Nanoha shook her head at the gesture, but the smile on her face made it clear that, although she felt that Fate was hopeless, she loved the blonde's behavior. She approached her and seeing the spoon being held halfway between the two, she raised her eyes to look at Fate. Sometimes she just couldn't help but play with her even if she was exposed to be discovered. She grabbed the girls hand in hers and forced her to hold the object up as she moved closer and licked around the chocolate surface. She felt Fate's hand trembled under her grip and when looking up she met with burgundy eyes wide open and watching her carefully with a shine that made her shiver. She pulled away while licking her lips and noticed the deep blush on her friend's cheeks.

"Yeah, it's really good" she admitted.

Fate was forced to close her mouth and look away.

"How… how long will it take?"

"Mmm, between 30 to 45 minutes" she cleaned some chocolate from her finger. "What do we do in the meantime?"

They looked at each other and shrugged before breaking into laughter. For the time being their entertainment was over, but at least they had spent a rather sweet time.

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**A/N: **Yay, a sweet and happy chapter again, even if it doesn't have much to do with anything, the author said it had been more of a 'random idea' and it was kinna meant for valentine's day, but don't worry things will pick up soon. Oh by the way, I kinna made a mistake when I mentioned last chapter that there were two chapters left until the confession, well the truth is that there was one more chapter, so _now _there are two chapter left, well one and a half. Also i've decided to get this story beta-read after getting a review suggesting that I should. I know there's some things that I write that might make sense to me but not to others, so I want to correct them. I'm still waiting to hear back from the beta-reader so as soon as I get the new chapters I'll let you know. Well I think that's it, so thanks for reading and please review. Later :D


	14. Obsession

**A/N: **Hey everyone sorry for not updating earlier I was a little busy and also I kinda didn't feel the inspiration to translate, and it gets really hard when I force myself to do it if I'm not in the mood. So yeah, but I hope that this chapter is good enough so you guys can forgive me, oh and this chapter could be rated M but I don't know, I let you guys decide that. Well with that said please go head and read.

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It was one of those moment in which you find yourself just over the line that separates a dream from reality, staying in an unstable balance where any little thing can make you go back to sleep or wake you up completely.

She was still dreaming. She felt her body lying down but instead she saw herself walking, as a mere spectator. She was in bed, but in her dream she was walking on a roof. She sighed as for a slight moment she stopped feeling the pillow under her head. Now she was jumping from one roof to another before jumping to the branch of a tree that was right in front of a window. The window was open and the curtains fluttered in the wind. She felt the tingling of fingers on her waist. The curtain was pulled back and let her see Nanoha on a bed, naked, with her breast exposed to her. Fate became agitated and noticed how she was running out of air. She jumped into the windowsill. Fingers slipped under her shirt. She was suffocating. Nanoha's image arched her back and she… moaned.

**#14 OBSESSION**

Fate snapped her eyes opened knowing that that moan didn't come from her dream. Then she noticed that her face was pressed against something and that she could barely breathe. It took her two long seconds to realize that her face was buried in Nanoha's chest. She blinked, slightly confused as she tried to pull away, but she didn't move much before her body froze.

She was suddenly very aware of Nanoha's body. Of _all_ of Nanoha's body. Her arms were around her, holding her very, very close, so much that her chest was still touching her cheek with every breath of the brunette. A hand had slipped under her shirt and was stroking her back gently. Fate shivered when nails slightly scratched her.

She swallowed hard and forced herself to calm down. She looked up and found the sleeping face of her bedmate. Well, Nanoha was still asleep. Then, what was happening? She analyzed the situation. Apparently she had used Nanoha as pillow like every night, but the instructor was dreaming about something rather… naughty and her hands had taken a life on their own to explore the blonde's body. She swallowed again. Everything was fine, having that kind of dreams was completely normal.

Another moan. Fate's eyes widened when she heard it while Nanoha now shivered slightly. Then she moaned again. The blonde swallowed her own moan of desperation, this couldn't be happening to her. Nanoha shifted uneasily in her dream and pressed closer to the enforcer, who once again saw her face against the girl's soft breast. She closed her eyes. _"Oh my… that's a…! A nipple?!"_ Of course there was no need to say that Nanoha seemed more than turned on with whatever she was dreaming.

But the worst of all was that _she _herself was getting turned on with the whole situation. Well considering the arms around her, the hand caressing her back, the breasts touching her, the pleasant sounds she heard… _"For god's sake, I'm not made of stone!"_

She gasped, which was more of a combination between a gasp and moan, when a leg slipped between hers. Quickly and relentlessly the thigh moved to the very center of all the heat that Fate was feeling. She sifted uneasily, biting her lip as she tried to remember herself that the brunette was only dreaming and at the same time trying not to think about how much she wanted to wake Nanoha up so she could take her there and now. The leg pressed a little more and now it was her who let out a long moan as she grabbed Nanoha's pajamas in her hands.

What do you do when your best friend, with whom you share a bed, of whom you're madly in love with and that you want more than anyone else, touches you in_ that_ way while dreaming of god knows what things? There should be a manual for that, and probably there was, somewhere within the Infinite Library, but Fate could only come up with one solution. To run away. Specifically, run away to the shower.

"A very, very, very cold shower." She grunted as she closed the bathroom door. "Freezing cold. That's it, I need a freezing cold shower."

She took off her pajamas while muttering under her breath. She didn't know if she was still half asleep or just stunned by what had happened, but surely it would be the latter because she felt very awake. In fact her whole body was fully awake. Angry by the whole situation she threw her underwear in the laundry basket and stood in front of the mirror.

At times like this she wondered if it would have been easier to remain unaware of her feelings. Knowing she was in love with Nanoha had only created problems in her life, which was already full of them. The discussion that took place months ago was when she realized that what she was feeling was only a prelude, the beginning of something that she knew would increasingly worsen and, although they hadn't had a fight again, Fate knew that nothing was like it used to be. Before she became aware of her love, her attraction, her desire.

She let out a choked groan while closing her eyes and praying not to have those kind of feelings. But she couldn't do anything, Nanoha had caught her, and she drove her completely, absolutely and totally crazy.

"Accepting that you are in love with her was hard enough for you." She told her reflection. "But I think that seeing all of your hormones go crazy every time she's close, is too much, don't you think Fate?" She shook her head. "And of course, she's not making it any easier. Oh, no. Not at all."

She ran a hand through her hair and sighed before heading to the shower. She had calmed down but a quick shower didn't sound too bad, so she decided to put the water in warm instead of completely cold as she had intended. She let the liquid fall on her body as she thought about Nanoha and how she was a person with too much physical interaction. The hugs, touches, slight brushes, the body contact was part of her way of communication. Whenever she came back from a difficult mission there was always a hug before any word. Whenever she said goodbye there was always a soft kiss on the check and a warm smile. Whenever she wanted to show her something there was always a hand placed on her shoulder. Whenever she wanted to say something there was always a slight touch on her arm to get her attention. Even when she got mad there was always a hit on her arm.

No. She wasn't making it easier.

She grabbed the shampoo and started to wash her hair. They were only small details with no apparent significance, but which were driving Fate crazy and threatened to cause her a heart attack one of these days. Small details like her habit of taking off her jacket and skirt upon arriving home. How could a simple shirt fit so well on someone? Or when, still half asleep, she sat down for breakfast and Nanoha would hug from the back to say good morning, didn't she notice how her breasts pressed against her back?

Then there were a thousand other situations when she thought she would go crazy with what she made her feel. Just like it had happened yesterday. They were working together in a bureaucratic issue and, since they didn't finished in time before heading back home, they ended up sitting in bed, in pajamas and with thousands of files scattered on the mattress. Nanoha had stretched over her to look for a paper on the other side and Fate now recalled how she had released the breath she'd been holding at the sudden closeness of the brunette. She couldn't quite get used to the feel of those new feelings that, although she was beginning to think they had always been there, now made her see her friend in another way. She closed her eyes biting her lip. She remembered her by her side, slightly touching her while she looked through the papers. Until a few months ago she had never been so aware of the warmth given off by her body, or the scent of her hair, never had she felt chills running down her body just by her simple touch or felt her breathing quicken if she hugged her. But now she was.

She wondered what Nanoha could be dreaming about. She herself had had the occasional embarrassing fantasy in which her imagination mixed with her desire had developed a more than wet dream. But she couldn't help it, what was blocked by her conscious when being awake, was freed in her dreams by her subconscious. She cared about Nanoha, she loved her and of course she also wanted her. Many times she found herself wondering how it would feel to kiss her or caress the skin all over her body, how it would feel to slide her lips down her neck and reach her breasts before moving down to her belly and continue to go down even more…

Her eyes widened when she realized that her hand had started to do on her own body what she had imagined doing on Nanoha. Her fingers stopped a second over the wet golden curls and hesitated a moment before continuing going down. She let out a gasp and looked up into the water from the shower. How could she be so turned on? Deep down, behind the fog that her desire had lifted in her mind, she knew it was not right to do that kind of stuff thinking about her best friend. But it had all being Nanoha's fault in the first place, for touching her in that way, even if she was dreaming.

She forced herself to swallow a moan. Yes, everything was the brunette's fault. The obsession she felt for Nanoha was only her fault for causing it. Her body shivered and her hand reached out looking for support on the wall, but with such bad luck her hand ended against the faucet.

Nanoha was awakened by the loud noise. She quickly sat up before she could fully understand what that loud hit had been and which had torn her away from her dream… whatever it was. She looked both ways and finally noticed two things: first, Fate was not in the bed and second, some sort of groan could be heard in the distance.

She took a quick glance at the clock and got up wondering what the hell was Fate doing in the bathroom and, most importantly, why was she awake at that time.

"Fate-chan?" She said walking to the door as she pulled the elastic of her underwear to put it back in place. "Are you okay?"

The only answer she got was some kind of groan along with what sounded like a curse and several "ouches". Her concern made her practically run to the door and shut it open only to freeze on her step completely surprised.

"Ugh… that hurt." Fate protested as she rubbed her arm. "Oh, did I wake you? Don't worry, I'm fine."

The brunette was forced to reactivate her brain, shut the door and stop staring at the naked body in front of her. Wet skin dripping on the floor, long blond hair stuck to her back and covering part of those well-formed breasts… her eyes followed the path of a drop on that soft body and she had to force herself to stop thinking about how much she would like to pounce on the said body and check that, really, it was all _fine._

"Um… What happened?"

A distinctive pinkish covered Fate's cheeks as she reached for the towel and wrapped it around her body. To the relief of Nanoha's hormones.

"I was… um… taking a shower." A brown eyebrow rose at that, at first because the fact that she was showering was obvious and then because the blush on Fate's face became more noticeable. "And I accidentally put the water on cold and… well, the surprise caused me to hit myself with the wall. I didn't want to wake you up, sorry."

"Are you okay?"

The blond head nodded but even with that Nanoha stopped her when she was about to pass her to check that the hit on the arm had been nothing. _"Bad idea," _she thought when was close enough to notice that she was too close to Fate, being naked. And that couldn't be good for her respiratory health because the smell of soap on Fate's body was driving her crazy and she knew she would start to hyperventilate at any time. And of course it wasn't good for her heart health either, because her heart was threatening to get out of her chest to go see for itself if Fate's skin was as soft as it looked.

"I'm fine, it was just a slight hit, nothing more." She smiled.

Nanoha was too busy controlling her breathing and trying to check the arm as to notice Fate's own discomfort. After seeing that everything was fine and noticing that the excuse of checking her would not help much if she kept on touching her arm that way, she tapped her on the shoulder and turned away from her.

"You're so clumsy sometimes, Fate-chan." She laughed. "What could you possibly be thinking…"

She laughed again and Fate joined her laughter, both too tense to notice the nervousness of the other. Nanoha saw the blonde make her way into the room to go to the closet and she had to take a deep breath and let out a long sign to calm herself down and to look away from that almost naked body. She was starting to think that she could not take much more things like that, things like that habit of never taking her clothes to the bathroom and always having to appear after shower only with a towel covering her, how could someone have such provocative pair of legs and thighs? And like that one, there were thousands of other small details, like when she went to see her in her office and stood behind her to see what she was working on, had she never noticed that her breathing so close to her ear kept her from thinking clearly?

Increasingly she ended in situations where she almost got lost in the desire she felt for Fate. Situations like the one minutes ago were starting to be too frequent. For example, that one rainy day last week, when she saw her arrive home after a tiring day, dripping wet and the soaked uniform stuck to her skin. While saying something about the crazy weather and her need to take a shower, she had taken off her shoes and her skirt before disposing of her jacket to reveal a white shirt almost transparent due to the rain. Nanoha had dropped the pen with which she was correcting reports upon seeing her and Fate had simply left her wet clothes next to the door and had approached her, hopping to avoid leaving a trail of water, gave her a kiss on the forehead and then left towards the so needed shower. Needless to say, by then the instructor also needed a showed after the revealing view that the wet shirt had allowed her to see.

"Sorry for waking you up." The blonde's voice was heard as she looked in the closet. "You seemed very deep sleep…" She hesitated a few seconds, but in the end couldn't help asking. "What were you dreaming about?"

"I don't know." She admitted heading to the bed to sit on the edge. She tried to remember. Fate was in it, there was no doubt about that, but she couldn't remember the rest. "I honestly don't remember, why?"

"No, it was nothing." There was a pause. "Curiosity I guess, as I said you seemed really immersed in the dream. What time is it?"

"There's still some time before the alarm goes off. What were you doing up so early, do you have to go somewhere?"

"No, I just woke up." She closed the closet's door and ,now dressed up, she walked towards the brunette while drying her hair with the towel. "Why don't you go back to bed? Since I'm up already I can make breakfast."

Nanoha thought about it for a few seconds. She bit her lip just in time to avoid saying that the only thing she wanted for breakfast was a naked and panting Fate. Her obsession with the blonde was beginning to worry her so before she started saying weird things, she dropped on the mattress with a smile.

"Okay, but it has to be something more than just cereal."

"As you wish." She bowed making Nanoha laugh. "A complete breakfast on the way, I'll bring it up in a few minutes."

"Ooooh." She laughed. "Breakfast in bed."

Burgundy let out a special shine. Seeing her lying there with that smile, the phrase "breakfast in bed," took a different perspective on her mind. One that only required Nanoha's body to satisfy her appetite. But the best things would be to make a real breakfast and leave her small, sickly obsession with the brunette aside.

"I won't take long."

"I'll be waiting."

Once alone, the two let out a long sigh.

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**A/N: **Oh! so much tension, we're getting really really close to that awaited moment. Also I wanted to let you know that there's only three chapters left of the story, but wait don't get sad or anything, it's not _the end_ of the story there's gonna be more later, when? I don't know, but there will be. We're all gonna have to wait for the rest of the chapters and just to give you a heads up, the author does take its time to write, so be patient, _very_ patient. Anyway thanks for reading, I hope everyone liked it and thanks to all of those who always review, it's thanks to you that for the first time I got more than 100 reviews, it made me really happy so thanks a lot. Well then see you later! :)


	15. Embarrassment

Nanoha never felt embarrassed when showing any kind of affection. Usually she didn't care about showing affection to the people she cared for, either with a hug, a light kiss on the check or just a sincere smile. But gradually she noticed that with Fate, it was different.

She still remembered Arisa's comment a few years ago. Her friend had made a face to see her, like always, clinging to Fate's arm as they walked to school. With an amusing and slightly mocking voice she said: "You're always clinging to Fate, don't you ever get tired?"

Of course Nanoha had said no. However with some doubt she had asked her blonde friend if it bothered her. With a sweet smile Fate shook her head and engraved her voice in Nanoha's heart: "I like that you do it, I know that's the way you show your affection towards me."

That was the first time she blushed at Fate's smile. And with time she began to understand the true meaning of the word embarrassment.

**#15 EMBARRASSMENT**

Nanoha splashed her face with cold water and looked up to see her reflection. She was still red.

"Uff. In what moment did you start to blush like this?" She asked the mirror. "When were the roles exchanged?"

Since they were little the instructor loved to make Fate blush. Seeing her face all red by a simple smile was something that caused her heart to soften and made her want to hug her, action which only achieved to deepened the blonde's blush. At first she did it just for fun, she even got to a point where she would count her friend's blushes caused by a smile or a hug. It was like a game. But as they grew older and Nanoha started to notice that her friendship with the blonde had evolved into something more…

As this happened, the blushes on the brunette's face multiplied.

When she realized her feelings, she began to feel embarrassed to show affection towards her friend. She frowned, remembering that time in her life when she couldn't even be closer than two feet from Fate without feeling like running away. It wasn't the best time in her life and it took a while to get over it, but over time she managed to learn to control herself. Now the displays of affection were once again as before but, nevertheless, there were times when she couldn't help turning into a tomato when Fate smiled at her. That warm smile capable of melting her and making her brain stop working.

She took a breath and let it out in a long sigh. At least Fate still blushed as easily as before. She left the bathroom somewhat calmer and returned to Fate's office, from where she had run out a few minutes ago. She opened the door and felt uneasy again to find Fate receiving her with a big smile.

"Feeling better?"

"Ye-yes… I just had to… to clear my head a bit. Too many hours working nonstop."

She coughed loudly as she sat in the chair across from the desk. She had run away to hide in the bathroom and now to top it off she was stammering like an idiot. But usually it wasn't like that. Yes, sometime she blushed by the presence of the blonde, but Nanoha had managed to learn to control herself so she didn't stammered or ran away… most of the time.

But most of the time she hadn't being days battling with herself, discussing the pros and cons of telling her secret lover that she had been in love with her for years.

Usually she only blushed on very compromising situations, but for a couple of days now, that idea had been hanging around her head and now she became a nervous wreck at the mere presence of Fate. It wasn't the blonde's fault, it was only hers, for having such thoughts.

She grabbed the report she had been looking at before her little escape. She frowned as she remembered how she had to run away a few minutes ago. To be honest, nothing serious had happened, they had been the whole afternoon reviewing repots for clues about the Jewel Seeds, she had found some interesting information and when telling her friend about it, Fate had gotten up and stood by her side. It had been that simple, she had only stood beside her to verify the information but, apparently, for Nanoha's body that closeness had been too much.

At first she had only noticed the slight vanilla scent given off by Fate's hair. Ever since she knew her she had always used the same shampoo so when that sweet perfume mixed with her own scent, it created Fate's distinctive smell. And Nanoha loved it.

Then she felt the warmth of her skin when she touched her to get a closer look at the paper. By then Nanoha had forgotten what they were talking about and when Fate had said something about the report, her brain hadn't been able to grasp the meaning of her words, too entertained admiring the sound of her voice. She loved it.

And finally the inevitable happened. Fate had turned her head seeing she wasn't paying attention and then their faces ended only inches apart. Yes, just at that exact moment was when Nanoha decided to run to the bathroom to avoid moving slightly forward and capture her friend's lips.

It wouldn't have been very smart to do that. She grimaced at the thought of what might have happened if she hadn't reacted in time. She allowed herself to imagine tasting Fate's lips and then she imagined the startled face of the blonde that afterwards would certainly become one of profound disappointment. She sighed.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Huh?" Nanoha looked up to find a worried face. "Oh, yes, yes… I'm just a little distracted, I guess."

Fate looked at her suspiciously but after a while she turned her attention back to the screen. Nanoha was forced to swallow a second sigh, of course she was fine, the only thing happening was that she feared losing her remaining little conscious and confess to Fate that she loved her. And that was what for days she had been wondering, would it be so bad to confess her feelings? What if the blonde felt the same way? Did she have a chance? Should she have hope? Or was it better to take the easy way out and let it go? She laughed slightly. That certainly wasn't the easy way out. It was the way she had been taking for years now and it was becoming harder every time.

She looked again at Fate and found her looking at her curiously. Nanoha noticed how she blushed slightly.

"What were you laughing about?"

"I remembered a joke."

"Which one?" Fate closed the screen and leaned an elbow on the table to put her cheek on her hand. "I also want to laugh, tell it to me."

Nanoha winced. She couldn't tell jokes and Fate knew it.

"You know I'm lousy at telling jokes."

"But you always say it's because you can never remember any of them. If you remembered one now, you shouldn't have any problems, right?"

Nanoha swallowed. Fate was watching her with a smile and she forced herself to calm down. That was a good opportunity. She could just stop making excuses and tell her the truth, explain to her that she was simply going crazy because she sought a way to confess to her best friend and, oh what a coincidence, it turned out that it was her. She could explain all the stupid discussions she had with herself imagining the hundreds of scenarios where she confessed her undying love. Of course those discussions were kind of funny.

She raised her hand to her chin and a thoughtful expression took over her face. Well, she could use the joke as an excuse and attempt to confess that way. It wasn't a bad idea, she could tell her that she was thinking of taking the easy way out but had discovered that the easy way turned out to be the hard one and it was funny because, in the end, what she had been trying to avoid by all means now was what she wanted to do most and couldn't, simply because…

She jump on her chair to the feel of a hand on her forehead and blinked repeatedly seeing Fate beside her, with an expression that made clear the concern she felt by the brunette's strange behavior.

… and couldn't, simply because she was dying of embarrassment by just thinking about it.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked. "You're acting weird, do you have a fever? Maybe you should go see Shamal.

Blues eyes stared at burgundy for a few seconds until Nanoha looked down with a loud sigh. It was useless, Fate's mere presence paralyzed her, trying to confess her feelings was simply unthinkable. She felt her cheeks flush with the embarrassment she felt and that same embarrassment got mixed with her frustration.

"I'm fine… just a little tired. My head hurts a little."

"Why don't you lie down on the couch for a while?"

Nanoha looked at the small leather couch on one side of the office, along with a small glass table where visitors usually sat. She gave her a half smile.

"Remind me again why you have a huge office with a couch and I have to share a room with all my students."

Fate let out a small laugh as she reached out a hand to help her up.

"Advantages of being an Enforcer." She winked and guided her to the couch. "Come one, lie down and rest."

The brunette did as suggested and Fate knelt beside her to accommodate the cushions so she was comfortable. She smiled warmly and brushed a few strands of hair form her face. Nanoha smiled back. Fate stood up and walked off the couch to go to her desk and close the screens and reports they were reviewing. The instructor followed her with her eyes, holding back the urge to scream that she loved her, to cry for not being able to tell her. Mixed feeling that she was forced to hide when Fate came back to her.

"Are you going to lie down for a bit too?" She asked faking a jokingly tone.

"No." She shook her head and smiled. "I'll go get some tea and see if I can find some aspirins, think it's a good idea?"

Nanoha nodded and Fate went to the door. The brunette closed her eyes hearing the footsteps of her friend and the door open. She felt a light breeze of air and how it stopped as the door closed.

"You know what I think?" She said in a whisper, her face turning into a grimace as she tried to avoid crying. "I think it's stupid to have the power to arrest criminals and even destroy some buildings… but not enough power to get rid of this embarrassment and tell you that I love you."

She ran a hand over her face and breathed a few times trying to control herself. But it was useless, she had been too long controlling herself and she just didn't have the strength to keep on doing it. Tears started to roll down her cheeks and she bit her lip feeling like the most stupid person in the world.

**To Be Continued…**

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**A/N: **Oh this is getting so excited, what's gonna happen now? I'm pretty sure some of you already have a good idea of what's next, and if you don't, then too bad for you, you'll have to find out until next chapter XD well then I hope everyone liked, maybe I'll update tomorrow, or maybe not, I don't know, but in any case, there's only two chapters left for me to translate, so I'll probably "finish" the story by end of the week, including weekend. Anyway thanks for reading and please review :D


	16. Love

**A/N: **Hello people, so here it is the chapter we've all been waiting for, yay. I hope this meets your expectations, of all the people who guessed on what would happened, only one actually got it, to be honest I thought it was pretty obvious but now i see that maybe it wasn't. This chapter gave me a little of a hard time, I couldn't figure out how to make some things sound right, I hope I managed to keep the mood and everything makes sense. If there's anything that sounds weird or something then let me know, 'kay? Well now please go on and read!

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You could say it was because of her name, but Fate couldn't help believing in fate. She had always thought that the fact that she now was who she was, was due to a series of coincidences that might as well not have happened. Perhaps, if her mother hadn't been under pressure to finish her work, Alicia would still be alive and she would have never existed…Perhaps, if Precia hadn't gotten obsessed with resurrecting her lost daughter, she would have never met Nanoha… Or it could have happened that Nanoha had never received Raising Heart…

But all of that had happened. Thousands of coincidences had occurred one after another and as an origin it seemed to have the Project F, the project that had given her her name, her life, the one that had started a chain of events that led her to become Fate Testarossa Harlaown, Enforcer of the TSAB, and member of the Mobile Section 6.

Possibly it was because of fate that she was standing there at that moment.

Possibly it was because of fate that she had decided to stop and ask if it wouldn't be better for Nanoha to go home.

Possibly it was because of fate that she heard those words.

**#16 LOVE**

"You know what I think?" It was barely a whisper but Fate stopped the words from leaving her mouth to let her talk. "I think it's stupid to have the power to arrest criminals and even destroy some buildings… but not enough power to get rid of this embarrassment and tell you that I love you."

The blonde froze in place. The hand that held the doorknob began to tremble slightly, her mouth was half way opened and a chill ran down her back as she could feel her throat going dry and her face pale. Those words echoed in her head like a mantra. For a moment she even forgot to breathe. Slowly she turned her head enough to see Nanoha's figure, lying on the couch, uselessly trying to hold back the tears while covering her face with both hands. Fate opened her mouth and then closed it again before re-opening it to gasp for air.

"Wh-what?"

She couldn't stop the question from leaving her mouth, but she regretted it the second after. Nanoha gasped and sat bolt upright, startled. Her eyes had stopped crying from the shock and widened in surprise when she saw the blonde was still in the room. She stumbled while trying to stand up too quickly and fell to the ground with a thud. Fate was still frozen in place, her hand on the doorknob and looking as surprised as Nanoha. Seeing how the brunette ended in the floor, concern made her react, she released her hand and turned away from the door ready to help her friend.

But she only managed to take a single step.

Seeing Fate approaching her, the instructor began to drag herself away, using her hands and feet. The blonde saw her move away from her until her back bumped against the wall. Both stared at each other.

The tension in the air was so much as to be almost touched. The awkward silence enveloped them for a few long seconds until a muffled groan, close to a whimper, managed to leave Nanoha's throat. Almost instantly blues eyes welled with tears again.

"Fate… chan."

Her voice broke. Nanoha raised a hand to cover her mouth in a vain attempt to silence her growing cries. Fate stared at her not understanding anything. Just a few moments ago they were both reviewing some reports and now… now Nanoha was dragging herself away from her and watching her with a horrified expression on her face and her eyes full of tears and… and she couldn't understand what had happened.

For a moment she didn't know what to do but forced herself to calm down. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply a few times before re-opening them. Nanoha was still crying silently. Rarely had she ever seen Nanoha crying like that, she was a person who normally held back her tears and, frowning, forced herself to move on despite anything. Even her own pain.

And now she was crying for… why was she crying? Was it just because she had heard her say that she loved her? That was absurd. Fate ran a hand over her forehead and pushed back her blond bangs as she looked around. She had a lump in her throat from the nerves and butterflies in her stomach from her hope.

Hope. She could have it, right? Nanoha could well refer to another kind of love, one that wasn't of friendship, one that meant something deeper… something as, perhaps, lovers.

"Nanoha." Even she was surprised when her voice came out as calm and smooth whisper. Suddenly she no longer had the lump in her throat and all she felt was the butterflies in her stomach. "Nanoha, look at me."

The brunette shook her head and sobbed harder, with her face still hidden in her hands. Fate snorted, how stubborn could she possibly be. She smiled and walked until she was right in front of Nanoha, who hugged her knees and buried her head between them.

Fate sighed as she rested her elbow on the shelf she had in front of her and again ran her hand through her hair in frustration. She looked down at the little glass shelf that contained only half a dozen books, those she never got tired of re-reading in her free time. She didn't know what to do or say. It was as if all the logic that governed their world had gone to hell, as if the universe had been shaken, twisted until it was upside down.

Ever since she realized her feelings for her friend, she had told herself there was no hope at all. She had convinced herself that Nanoha couldn't feel the same towards her, that she would never return that love for which she hated herself. She had hated herself every time she wanted to touch her, kiss her, or have her. She had repeated herself countless times that the best she could hope for was to continue that so close friendship they shared…

She looked back at the person who was sobbing at her feet and took a deep breath before kneeling down to face her friend.

"Nanoha, look at me." She repeated, but again Nanoha shook her head. "Look at me, please."

Nanoha was startled to feel a hand on her head. Hesitantly, she raised her face a little and the caress moved down her forehead to push away her bangs carefully. Fate's hand was warm and her soft fingers played with locks of brown hair before going down her cheek and holding it in her palm. She separated her whole face from her knees and her eyes met a pair of burgundy orbs looking at her tenderly. Tears clouded her sight again.

"I… thought you… were gone and…" She said between sobs. "I… I didn't… want you…"

"Don't cry." Fate cut her as she dried her tears with her thumb. "Why are you crying?"

The blonde couldn't hide her smile. Nanoha was crying, her cheeks were flushed and tearful but, despite that, it was the most beautiful face she had ever seen. She saw Nanoha open her mouth to explain but all that came out was a sob. She slid her hand down to her chin and raised her face enough to bend over and kiss her forehead.

"Fate-chan…"

The lips fell to her eyes. Nanoha closed an eye while Fate wiped her tears with little kisses. She pulled away for a moment to look at her and the smile on Fate's face widened. She wasn't afraid anymore, the hope had made sure to delete it. Nanoha's eyes were still watery but there was no more panic in them, only surprise and, she was sure of, hope also. She could feel her heart beating out of control. She continued on kissing her cheeks, creating a trail of kisses to the brunette's lips as she noticed the latter holding her breath.

They stared at each other intently, their lips so close yet so far, turning into a little torture for both, a pleasant torture. Fate move closer and hesitated, not daring to close the gap completely. Her breath fluttering over Nanoha's tasty lips, causing chill to run through her whole body.

The instructor had never been very patient, especially when been provoked, and that was been a complete provocation. She looked down from Fate's eyes to her lips and then back to up to see the burgundy pupils dilated with desire. Not been able to take anymore and letting out a whine between moan and growl, she grabbed Fate by the neck and abruptly pulled her in to reach her mouth.

Somehow the blonde avoided falling completely on top of her while her heart jumped in her chest to finally taste the softness of Nanoha's lips. The wait had put them at their limit making their first contact hungry and in a hurry. Their lips met with intense passion and Fate let out a muffled moan feeling the instructor's hands digging into her hair. The sound made them stop and separate for a second before their lips crashed again, this time slower, touching and tasting each other calmly.

Nanoha was the first one to ask permission to deepen the kiss, her tongue slid like the most delicate and maddening caress along Fate's lower lip, who didn't hesitate to open her mouth and welcome such pleasant visit. The first touch of both tongues made them shiver from head to toe. A chill ran through their whole bodies as their tongues examined and tasted the flavor of the each other.

They parted gasping for breath only to kiss once again with renewed fervor. Nanoha's hand slipped from Fate's nape to the neck of her shirt and pulled the fabric to draw her even closer. The kiss became more passionate with every second, deeper, wetter, more anxious. The enforcer let out a moan which was lost in Nanoha's mouth and went down her throat in a wave of lust that crashed into her lower abdomen.

The brunette shifted slightly from the heat she suddenly felt and which increased when she noticed Fate's hands perched on her legs. They parted to look intently at each other and Nanoha gasped slightly when the blonde's hands slid slowly upward, all throughout her legs up to her thighs. They shared a smile and rejoined their lips as Fate lifted Nanoha's thighs to place her on her lap, causing a startle yelp which the blonde made sure to silence with her lips.

They spent several minutes kissing without pause, as if to recover all the time they had waited to get to this point, but eventually they parted with bated breaths and flushed cheeks. Resting their foreheads together, they looked at each saying nothing as they caught their breath. Nanoha finally giggled and took a deep breath.

"Phew." She exhaled in one breath and smiled at the blonde. "That was…"

"Amazing."

"Yes." Both laughed. "Why didn't we do this much early? I've been years wanting to taste you lips…"

Fate shuddered when Nanoha traced the outline of her mouth with a finger.

"Years?"

"Year." The brunette stated. "You…?"

"Not so much, since…" She shifted uncomfortably and looked away. "I think I should explain exactly why I distanced myself so much a few months ago…"

"…Oh." She bit her lip as she understood what Fate meant. "We have a lot to talk about."

"Yeah."

They remained silent for a while. It wasn't at all an uncomfortable silence but there were too many things to explain, many questions to answer.

"We're a little slow."

Fate laughed at the brunette's remark breaking the slight tension that had been brewing between them. She leaned over to steal a little kiss and they hugged tightly.

"Come on, let's get out of here and talk, okay?"

Nanoha nodded with a smile and rose from the blonde's lap, who followed her actions and stood up. The hit rang through the office and a couple of books fell to the ground at the same time Fate's head made contact with the shelf.

"Fate!"

Nanoha yelled and looked at her with surprise as she raised her hands to her head and let out a cry of pain. Red eyes parted and angrily looked at the damn shelf, then she turned to the worried face in front of her.

"Ouch…" She complained.

The laugher was immediate and Fate winced upon hearing it. She hit her head and to add to it she had to put up with been laughed at. Nanoha move closer and put her arms around her, trying not to laugh.

"What a hit…" She couldn't help laughing again. "Luckily I don't reach the shelf, that's what you get for being so tall."

"Great, so now it's my fault and not the shelf's…"

Nanoha laughed at Fate's pout and stood on tiptoe to kiss the forehead of the sore enforcer.

"Poor thing… come on, let's go home." She wrapped a hand around her waist and led her towards the door. "I think you're now going to need that aspirin you were supposed to get me…"

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**A/N: **So what do guys think? was it good enough or not? Now that I think about it there really wasn't a verbal confession, other than Nanoha's little accident, oh well, but there was a lot of kissing xD Anyway changing to another subject, I think some of you misunderstood what I wrote in the last two chapters or I just didn't make clear enough, next chapter is the last one there is at this point, but there will be more later on, when the original author of the story posts a new one. There are going to be 30 chapters so there's still quite a lot left, but we're all gonna have to wait for them, including me, so don't get depressed or at least not to much. So with that said, thanks a lot for reading and please be kind and leave a review, 'kay then see ya later ;)


	17. Read

When she woke up the first thing she did was to lean over the railing to see Nanoha's diary on the table, just as she had promised the night before. The blonde couldn't believe that she had actually let her read it, but it was there and the truth was that she was dying to look over it. She put on a robe and went downstairs almost running to sit on the couch; it was then that she noticed there was a note on the cover.

"_Enjoy it, because I'll be back at 9 o'clock to eat breakfast together… and then I'll hide it forever._

_Nanoha."_

Fate looked at the clock and mentally cursed for having slept so much. She only had an hour, so she sat on the couch, grabbed the diary and opened it to one of the first pages.

**#17 READ**

"_Yuuno-kun has been teaching me how to use Raising Heart, I'm not very good yet but he says I'm getting better. He also says it's surprising that I can activate it without the password, but that's even better, that thing was way too long!_

_Using magic too much is tiring, but fun. The only bad thing is that it seems I don't pay much attention in class. Today the teacher scolded me again because I was distracted, but I just wanted the class to be over so I could go practice with Raising Heart. I'm still a bit inexperienced but I want to believe that Yuuno-kun is right and I'll improve with time. Also, I already have two Jewel Seeds! With time I'll seal them all. I hope Yuuno-kun stays with me after we get all of them, I wouldn't want him to leave now that we have become friends."_

She smiled noticing the childish way of writing that Nanoha had at that time, even her irregular handwriting reflected innocence.

Fate turned the pages and couldn't help frowning more and more every time she read 'Yuuno-kun'. Nanoha had already told her that she had started that diary to write everything she couldn't tell her friends and family, so it wasn't a surprise that she talked so much about Yuuno but, in her opinion, she talked _too much_ about him.

"_Today I met another mage."_

Red eyes re-read that simple line. There was nothing more written for that day, just that phrase which Fate guessed referred to her. She looked at the next entry. It had been several days since the last one and, despite being a little longer, it was still brief.

"_I met her again at the hot springs, we fought and she won… I lost a Jewel Seed but she told me her name. Fate Testarossa."_

Fate smiled as she read her name, she closed her eyes and could almost see that day again, when she had fought Nanoha in the river. On that occasion she had almost cut her throat off and yet, something in the depths of her being had made her stop. Even she was surprised she could stop herself, she had already interfered in her plans twice but still, she couldn't hurt her. Although, she also didn't want to hear her name.

She turned her attention back to the notebook and continued reading. The entries weren't as long as before but there was something that caught her attention, her eyes widened as she read and began to turn the pages quickly.

Fate, Fate, Fate, Fate, Fate…

She hardly mentioned Yuuno, or the Jewel Seeds, now practically only her name appeared. She was surprised to see that almost a year had passed and stopped to read.

"_Today I've received a new video letter from Fate-chan. I still haven't seen it. I know it sounds weird but lately I can't help crying every time I see one of her letters, every time I see her on the screen… because it's not her, it's just an image and I want to see her, I want to see my new friend, I want to see my new best friend and hug her. I'm meeting Arisa and Suzuka to see it together, so surely this time I'll be able to hold back my tears."_

If not mistaken, the day of their reunion would be close, so she read the following entries until she found it. What could have Nanoha thought seeing her after so long?

"_It wasn't the best reunion ever, but I'm happy to see her. Honestly, I expected an emotional moment, the two standing, not saying anything for a few seconds before running to hug each other. I've dreamed of this day so many times that I was almost disappointed that it happened like that, in the middle of a battle._

_Although, on the other hand, I don't think it could have been better. Thanks to her I'm still alive, she saved me and my heart jumped of joy when I saw her standing in front of me, protecting me with Bardiche in one hand… and I think I'll never forget those words. "We're friends."_

_The bad thing is that I'm now tired because of the battle. They said that almost all the energy from my linker core was stolen so I have to rest for several days. It's not fair! I wanted to do so many things with Fate-chan…"_

Fate grimaced. She was scared to death that time when she saw Nanoha lying on the ground motionless. She was lost in thought for a moment and then she looked at the clock. It wouldn't take long for Nanoha to return so she had to hurry because she would surely keep her word and once back she would hide the diary again.

She turned the page and saw that a page had been torn from that place. She ran her finger over the badly cut edge of the paper and looked at entry on the side. She raised her eyebrows in surprise to see that there was a change in the dates, six years had passed since the last one. Since their reunion she hadn't written anything new.

"_It's been so long… A lot has happened. Actually I don't understand why I stopped writing, but I really regret not having captured my stories over the years that have passed. I would like to try and write everything right now but I know I'll leave things out._

_These six years have been very important to me because I've spent them besides the people who I care for: Arisa, Suzuka, Yuuno-kun, Chrono-kun, Lindy-san, Hayate, Vita, Shamal, Signum… and of course Fate-chan. Since moving to Uminari, we have became practically inseparable and I think that the reason why I didn't continue with this diary was because, now that I could talk to her face to face, I had no need to put my feelings on paper. I'd simply tell them to her._

_And I've told her all of them but one… I think I also left the diary because I was afraid to write more than needed. Although I hope one day I'll be able to tell her, so while that day comes, I'll write here again."_

She swallowed. She could get an idea of what it was Nanoha wanted to tell her but, for that long? That entry was just before moving to Mid Childa. Had they spent so much time loving each other in secret? She couldn't remember when she had fallen for Nanoha but, she knew her feelings had been there long before she realized it, long before accepting them and long, long before daring to confess.

Apparently it was true that the brunette had returned to the habit of using the dairy, because from that day on there were several other entries, not as often as before but at least once a month. She started reading randomly and now she understood why she had that diary so well hidden.

"_It's been days since I last saw Fate-chan, I don't like being in different units, I barely see her…"_

"_Fate left for a new mission and I can hardly sleep. I miss her so much…"_

"_Hayate told me she's going to create a new unit. Fate-chan and I can be together again!"_

"… _she almost catches me. I saw her changing and stood there staring like an idiot. How embarrassing!…"_

"_I don't think it was a good idea to move in together and much less to buy one bed for the two…"_

"_Today we had an argument, but as always, at the end of the day we both apologized."_

"… _I can't stop watching her sleep, I can't stop thinking about hugging her while sleeping…"_

"_I've asked that we bathe together and she accepted! It was fun. She seemed somewhat embarrassed, I hope I wasn't very obvious…"_

"_Fate made me a chocolate cake, it was delicious!..."_

"… _her tears are salty. I don't want her to cry, it hurts me to see her cry."_

"… _I can hardly control myself lately, every time I'm making more daring comments…"_

"_Today we had a picnic…"_

"_Maybe I scared her when I said that she looked very sexy on her training clothes…"_

"_Am I going crazy?"_

Fate smiled on every sentence she read. It seemed unbelievable that Nanoha had been going through exactly the same problems as her. Certainly she didn't show it, or at least Fate didn't see it. But now so many things made sense, so many comments, so many looks and actions…

_Today I've finally told her the only secret I had with her._

The door opened just as Fate read that sentence and looked up to see Nanoha standing in the doorway, with a smile. The brunette walked up to her calmly and Fate found herself staring, she didn't even reacted when Nanoha leaned to her and kissed her on the forehead before grabbing the dairy and slightly hitting the spot she had just kissed. It was then that she reacted.

"Nanoha…"

She put the diary over her mouth, telling her to be quiet. And Fate didn't hesitate to obey, in fact, no words were needed.

"It'll be our secret."

* * *

**A/N: **Yay finally they're together, although we didn't see much of it here, but well, according to the author the chapters after this we'll be about their relationship as lovers, so we'll be seeing more NanoFate moments, hopefully soon, though to give everyone a heads up, this author does take its time to write, no kidding, four years to get half of the story, so I'll recommend you find some other good story while you wait, and please don't abandon this story, I'll update as soon as a new chapter comes out. Also the first two chapter have been re-posted after being beta-read, I'll re-post the rest once I have them and thanks a lot to **Fate T. Harlaown ** for beta-reading this story.

Anyway in other matters, I already have another story in mind to translate, it's another AU, the second one I'll be doing, and don't forget that I always take request, you can PM or write it on a review. Well, with that said thanks to everyone for reading and to those who followed and favorited this especial thanks to those who reviewed, I won't write down all of them, just those who reviewed most, but thanks to everyone anyways.

**Shlabadak, Aka Chibi-chan, Honulicious, Lance58, priest1drago, ZonaRose, Xenoverse, eries326 and ditto526.**

Thanks a lot for all your reviews they made me really happy and encouraged me to keep translating. Well then, I hope everyone enjoyed the story, and don't forget to check out the next story I translate, if I do get permission to do it, it'll be called _"What I've always wanted". _Okay then good bye people, see you until the next update. ;D


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